John Smith
(January 9, 1580 - June 1631)
John Smith
English adventurer and soldier
 One of 105 settlers who sailed from
England on December 19, 1606, and
landed in Virginia on April 26, 1607.



Became one of the 7 leaders of new
colony
Led expeditions exploring
Chesapeake Bay and the New
England coast.
John Smith

The settlers established Jamestown
(VA) on May 24, 1607
became the first permanent English
settlement in North America
 Smith was the colony's leader and
also led hunting and exploration
expeditions around the area.

John Smith

On a trip later that year,
Smith was taken captive
by the Chief of the
Powhatan Indians and
was condemned to death.

According to Smith,
Pocahontas, daughter of
the Indian chief, saved
his life.
John Smith

By the end of the first year, most of
the settlers had died of starvation or
disease.

Imposed order by forcing everyone to
work
In 1608, Smith led a small expedition
exploring the Chesapeake Bay area
(as far north as Baltimore).
 On their return trip, they also went up
the Potomac River (up to Washington,
D.C.).

John Smith

Smith almost died while returning to
Jamestown; he caught a stingray that
stung him and almost killed him.

After returning to Jamestown, he set
out again to explore more of
Chesapeake Bay, mapping much of
the area.
John Smith


More settlers arrived at the Jamestown
colony in August 1609.
Smith was injured in a gunpowder explosion
in September 1609



left for England in October 1609
Smith sailed to America again in 1614,
traveling to what he called New England,
the area from Maine and Massachusetts.
He returned to England with furs.
John Smith & Pocahontas

The first version of the story of Smith’s
captivity did not feature Pocahontas.

She was probably about 13 years old
at the time Smith was captured.
• A True Relation of Virginia (1608)

The more well known account
appeared in The Generall Historie of
Virginia, New England, and the
Summer Isles

some 15 years after the actual event
John Smith & Pocahontas

Scholars speculate that Smith may
have added Pocahontas to his
narrative to capitalize on her fame.
She had married John Rolfe, an
Englishman
 Later travelled to England in 1616,
where she was a court favorite

John Smith & Pocahontas

There is a recognizable pattern
of many later accounts of white
male Europeans or Americans
who are saved from death by
the intervention of Native
American women.
John Smith & Pocahontas

Dearborne:

“Pocahontas…a favorite
heroine of American culture,
has achieved that status only
through representations. The
only means by which her
story can be told is by piecing
together the accounts of
others, by studying
interpretations of her image in
literature, history, and cultural
iconography.”
http://www.imdb.co
m/rg/VIDEO_PLAY/
LINK//video/screenp
lay/vi784335129/
the real
Pocahontas
 Actual name:


Matoaka
http://www.imdb.com/rg/
VIDEO_PLAY/LINK//vid
eo/screenplay/vi164272
5657/