Pocahontas: life of the week

Pocahontas's life is one shrouded in myth, but how much of the law is true? In this episode of the History Extra podcast, historian Camilla Townsend brings us face to face with the real Pocahontas. Camilla spoke to me, Emily Briffitz, to reveal the story of a person turned into propaganda who acted as a diplomatic bridge in a fragile encounter with English colonists. And as you'll discover, Pocahontas's legacy is one that still shapes how the early history of America is remembered. We're going to be talking today all about the life of Pocahontas.

Her life is one that is surrounded with myth and legend, but To get into this episode, I wanted to strip away some of that. Could you briefly introduce us to her? Yes, the real Pocahontas was the daughter of the indigenous chieftain of the area that we now call Virginia. Her father ruled over something like 20 tribes, we're not sure exactly, and in a time of war she was kidnapped by the English.

But eventually married an Englishman and went with him to London to serve as a sort of a walking advertisement for investing in the Virginia colony. Now I think this is something that we should probably answer straight off the bat. Pocahontas is actually a nickname, isn't it? When Pocahontas was born, she would have been given a different name. The word Pocahontas in her language, in effect, it means little mischievous one.

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