John Smith & Pocahontas P1

Those original settlers who landed at Cape Henry sailed up a nearby river looking for a site for the first settlement in the new colony. They named the waterway up which they journeyed the “James River” and their new settlement “Jamestown,” both in honor of King James the first of England.

The initial reaction of the local natives to this unexpected arrival was fear, suspicion, and hostility. In fact, only two weeks after the colonists landed, 400 Indians made a surprise attack on the new settlement, killing two and wounding 11 others. But a change in this hostile beginning eventually occurred, thanks in large part to Pocahontas, a young and favorite daughter of Powhatan, chief of the neighboring Indians.

CONTENT SOURCE: "The American Story, the beginnings" by David Barton and Tim Barton