The permanent exhibition galleries at Jamestown Settlement continue the story of the Powhatan Indians to late 17th-century Virginia. The Powhatan lost their political independence after being defeated by the English in the 1644-46 Anglo-Powhatan War. Powhatan continued to live in the Virginia coastal plain as they had done for centuries, but after the war, their chiefs ruled under the authority of the English royal governor. The English authorities set aside a series of small reservations for the various Powhatan tribes. However, English colonists steadily encroached on Powhatan lands, and most of these reservations disappeared during the next half-century.

English settlement and the effects on Powhatan reservations

Some Powhatan remained on their steadily dwindling reservation lands in Virginia. Others left the English dominated portions of Virginia entirely and joined with other non-Powhatan tribes to the west who lived beyond English control. Still, others moved off the reservations, which could no longer sustain them, and intermingled with the English settlers. Life off the reservation did not necessarily lead to a loss of \ cultural identity since the Powhatan Indians still tended to live together in their own small, rather isolated communities.

As English plantations expanded and Powhatan-controlled lands shrank, it became much harder for the Powhatan to support themselves. There was less unclaimed land available for hunting and gathering, and Powhatan participation in the fur trade declined. Other tribes beyond the limits of English settlement took over this valuable trade.

English trade and the Powhatan’s resourcefulness

The Powhatan still needed to buy English goods, however, they had to find other ways to pay for them. A few Powhatan members became planters themselves, buying or patenting land under English law. Some became tenant farmers, renting English owned land. Many other Powhatan combined their traditional economic activities with part-time work for the English in a variety of different jobs.

Powhatan craftsmen began making items to sell to the English. In 1676 the Virginia government set up regular markets in the colony where Powhatan could sell items like clay pots, tobacco pipes and woven mats to the English. All of these endeavors helped the remaining Powhatan survive in a world that was increasingly dominated by English people and institutions.

It is clear that most Powhatans preferred to keep their own customs and institutions, despite pressure from Virginia’s colonial government to adopt English ways. Some Powhatan, especially tribal leaders, learned to speak English in order to deal with governmental authorities, and by the end of the 17th century many younger Powhatan had begun to speak English as their first language. Even so, most Powhatan Indians chose to live lives that were different from the lives of their English neighbors.

The end of the Powhatan chiefdom

The Powhatan Indians overcame many obstacles, including years of discrimination, and learned to adapt in order to survive. The end of the Powhatan chiefdom left the Powhatan of the Virginia coastal plain divided into several different tribal groups, each of whom had to find their own way of dealing with a rapidly changing world. As a way of economic survival, smaller tribes merged with larger ones, jeopardizing independent identity.

Strong kinship networks helped tribal identities endure even when economic necessity led to the dispersal of tribal populations. Family became the chief mechanism for the survival of Powhatan culture, a tradition that endures right up to the present day, with eleven recognized tribes in Virginia. These include seven Powhatan tribes—Chickahominy, Eastern Chickahominy, Mattaponi, Nansemond, Pamunkey, Rappahannock, and Upper Mattaponi.