The end was drawing near John Smith. Armed with sticks and thirsty for blood, the Indians Powhatan They surrounded the English. They seemed very angry. Without escape, Smith he was preparing to die. But suddenly a young girl Powhatan he threw himself on the surprised John Smith, asking his brothers to spare his life. Thus begins the myth of Pocahontasthe protagonist of so many stories linked to the violent encounter of two Worlds.
The only historical source for this dramatic episode comes from the fist of the John Smithhowever the existence of a young woman named Pocahontaswho was born and raised among the native peoples of Virginia and would end his days in Europe, has been recorded by more than one witness.
Pocahontas(which meant the mischievous, the playful), was a nickname of Matoakathe daughter of the chief of the Powhatanwho ruled around 10,000 natives located in what is now Virginia (USA).
His legend begins when he was about 12 years old, and the English established their colony of Jamestown in 1607, led by the Captain John Smith. Their activities worried the natives, who believed (and guessed) that the colonists they were there to take their land.
So it was that the following year they planned an ambush in order to annihilate the English leaders, but again it was Pocahontas who warned the colonists of this, ensuring a period of tranquility between the colony and the natives.
However, after a year John Smith returned to England because of a serious injury, and the relations between the English and the Powhatan They got worse again. The clashes were embodied in taking hostages on both sides, and Pocahontas she was captured and sent to England in 1613, where she would meet her future husband, John Rolfe.
They married in 1614 and Pocahontas was then called Rebeccaand the following year they had a son. She returned to travel to her town, where she reproached her father for her lack of interest in her captivityand then returned to England, where he would soon die at the age of 20.
The myth that emerges from these facts, the importance of Pocahontas as a cultural bridge between two unknown worlds, it has been widely treated in fiction. Movies like Pocahontas (nineteen ninety five), The New World (2005), and the recent Avatar (2009) take the idea behind this historical character, and adapt his events to the typical Hollywood drama. Without needing to dramatize it, the life of Pocahontas In such a complex time and place, it attests that even in the worst situations there were men and women capable of seeing beyond their own world.
Font: “Pocahontas. A Bridge Towards Peace”in Boy’s LifeVol. 85, No. 10, 1995
Images: Wikipedia