knowt logo

Tsenacommacah and the Invasion

Tsenacommacah “Densely Inhabited Land”

  • 1607 Virginia Company expedition to Chesapeake

    • 100 men

    • built “Jamestown” an uninhabited swampy peninsula (bad choice)

  • the Powhatan confederacy: paramount chiefdom under wahunsenacah

    • 24,000 people

    • 30 tribes paying tribute

England Invades Tsenacommacah

  • Jamestown was a disaster

    • gentleman colonists were unwilling to work

    • brackish, disease-infested swamp

      • water from wells had salt in them (salt poisoning)

  • at first, wahunsenacah treated Jamestown as a neighboring village to incorporate

    • sick, starving colonists posed little danger

    • traded abundant food for more rare euro goods

    • a way of creating ties/obligations

  • Jamestown’s’ misery continued

    • disease, starvation, even canniballism

    • relations sour with native neighbors

    • 80% of all colonists died before 1616

Tsenacommacah and the Invasion

Tsenacommacah “Densely Inhabited Land”

  • 1607 Virginia Company expedition to Chesapeake

    • 100 men

    • built “Jamestown” an uninhabited swampy peninsula (bad choice)

  • the Powhatan confederacy: paramount chiefdom under wahunsenacah

    • 24,000 people

    • 30 tribes paying tribute

England Invades Tsenacommacah

  • Jamestown was a disaster

    • gentleman colonists were unwilling to work

    • brackish, disease-infested swamp

      • water from wells had salt in them (salt poisoning)

  • at first, wahunsenacah treated Jamestown as a neighboring village to incorporate

    • sick, starving colonists posed little danger

    • traded abundant food for more rare euro goods

    • a way of creating ties/obligations

  • Jamestown’s’ misery continued

    • disease, starvation, even canniballism

    • relations sour with native neighbors

    • 80% of all colonists died before 1616

robot