Werowocomoco

Paramont Chief Powhatan

Wahunsenacawh

Chief Powhatan, whose given name was Wahunsenacawh, was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, a political alliance of Virginia Indians whose core six groups all settled along the James, Mattaponi, and Pamunkey rivers. Introduced to the Jamestown colonists in 1607 as Powhatan, he was for a decade the most powerful point of contact for the English; in 1614, the marriage of his daughter, Pocahontas, to John Rolfe, helped end, at least temporarily, years of war. Coming to power in Powhatan, the Powhatan Indians’ principal frontier town on the James River, Wahunsenacawh likely was raised much as any other Algonquin-speaking Indian would have been—learning archery and hunting from the men of his village. By 1607, he was paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, having expanded it, through a combination of force and diplomacy, to between twenty-eight and thirty-two tribes and petty chiefdoms. Powhatan negotiated with the English, and especially John Smith, attempting to reach accommodation with the colonists and, when he could not, attempting to intimidate or kill them. In 1609, he moved his capital from Werowocomoco to Orapax, which was farther west, and intensified his efforts to kill Smith and expel the English. Pocahontas’s marriage ended that stage of the conflict, and relations were peaceful until Powhatan’s death in 1618.

Tree Hill Historical Marker, Henrico County, Virginia (defined as birthplace of Powhatan) > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tree_Hill_(Richmond,_Virginia)