Powhatan Confederacy
Open-knowledge reference entry
The Powhatan Confederacy ( POW-hə-TAN, pow-HAT-ən) was a confederacy of Native American nations in Tsenacommacah, now also called Tidewater Virginia. The confederacy was led by a Mamanatowick and a council of advisors. Meanwhile, each member nation was led by its own sovereign Weroance. Most members of the confederacy likely spoke Algonquian languages.
In 1607, an estimated 14,000 to 21,000 people lived in the confederacy. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, the confederacy was led by Wahunsenacawh. English colonists used the term Powhatan to refer to Wahunsenacawh. The confederacy expanded to around thirty members at its peak, who joined through marriages, alliances, and wars.
After Wahunsenacawh died in 1618, hostilities with colonists escalated under his brother, Opchanacanough, who unsuccessfully tried to repel encroaching English colonists. By 1700, the confederacy's population had been decimated, by warfare and infectious diseases, such as measles and smallpox that were introduced to North America by the Europeans.
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