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

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