The Interaction Between Pocahontas And The Powhatan Dilemma

In history, the European takeover of the New World is often praised and commended, however, the eventual success of the settlement of Jamestown, Virginia did not come without its expenses, as shown in Camilla Townsend’s book, Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma. The interaction between the Powhatan Indians and the English gentlemen aboard the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery in the year 1607 exposed many differences between the two groups that would eventually cost the lives of thousands of natives and Englishmen. The clashes between the two groups occurred due to the vast differences in cultures—including the larger issues brought about by discrepancies in religion, technology, a language barrier, social structure, and disease. …show more content…
Unlike the colonists who lived under the Church of England established by Henry VIII, the Indians worshipped different Gods and therefore held contrasting beliefs. “The people believed there was one great spirit who made heaven and earth, but infinite manifestations of that deity existed all around. The manitous or manitos of other Algonkian cultures, spirit beings, lived everywhere”. The Indians devoted much of their time to storytelling and perhaps “Pocahontas learned about her gods and her history as she listened to her elders”. The Indians religious beliefs made them a humble people, doing their best to survive and live a simple life. Many colonists questioned whether intruding on their lands was the correct thing to do since the Indians seemed well off with only the help from their Gods. The English struggled with their own consciousness and had to be convinced they were acting on God’s behalf. Many of the “adventurers and planters” bound for Virginia held these doubts and therefore, Reverend William Symonds held a sermon before their departure to the New World. In his sermon, he preached that the colonists were spreading Christianity and that “The summe is, what blessing any Nation had by Christ, must be Communicated to all Nations: the office of his prophicie to teach the ignorant”. Eventually, these sermons were enough to persuade the colonists and so, they insisted on converting the “savages” into Christianity and saving them from themselves and their uncivilized ways. The English had strong faith that the Indians would choose to convert to Christianity, and while some did—like Pocahontas--, they never forgot their roots. “These other texts tell us that Indians who converted in the first months of contact were virtually always incorporating the Christian God into their previously existing