Powhatan
Powhatan (unknown–1618), or Wahunsonakok, was a chief of the Powhatan people in what is now Virginia. Powhatan ruled over several Algonquian tribes during the English settlement of Jamestown. He negotiated and sometimes clashed with Jamestown colonists and John Smith. Though Powhatan at first cooperated with English colonists, he later cut off trade and became hostile to them. His daughter, Pocahontas, was captured by an English expedition in 1613, however, and Powhatan approved her marriage to English settler John Rolfe. The marriage created a peace of several years between English settlers and Powhatan’s people.
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