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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