User:Ekdandreapstcc/sandbox

One expression of the different cultures of the three major language groups was how they constructed their houses, both in style and materials. The Monacan, who spoke a Siouan language, created dome-shaped structures covered with bark and reed mats.[10] The tribes of the Powhatan Confederacy spoke Algonquian languages, as did many of the Atlantic coastal peoples all the way up into Canada. They lived in houses they called yihakans/yehakins, and which the English described as "longhouses". They were made from bent saplings lashed together at the top to make a barrel shape. The saplings were covered with woven mats or bark. The 17th-century historian William Strachey thought since bark was harder to acquire, families of higher status likely owned the bark-covered houses. In summer, when the heat and humidity increased, the people could roll up or remove the mat walls for better air circulation.[11] Inside a Powhatan house, bedsteads were built along both long walls. They were made of posts put in the ground, about a foot high or more, with small cross-poles attached. The framework was about 4 feet (1.2 m) wide, and was covered with reeds. One or more mats was placed on top for bedding, with more mats or skins for blankets. A rolled mat served as a pillow. During the day, the bedding was rolled up and stored so the space could be used for other purposes.[11] There was little need for extra bedding because a fire was kept burning inside the houses to provide heat in the cold months which would also be used to repel insects during the warmer months. Wildlife was abundant in this area. The buffalo were still plentiful in the Virginia Piedmont up until the 1700s. The Upper Potomac watershed (above Great Falls, Virginia) was once renowned for its unsurpassed abundance of wild geese, earning the Upper Potomac its former Algonquian name, Cohongoruton (Goose River).[citation needed] Men and boys bring in animal carcasses, fish, shellfish and women bring in greens. Although either sex gathers food, women butcher the meats, gut the fish, and cook shellfish and vegetables for stew. In addition, women’s work consists of building houses when it was time to relocate after field and resources become exhausted. Experienced women and older girls worked together to build the houses while younger children would hand materials over as needed.

Below the fall line, related Algonquian groups, who were not tributary to Powhatan, included the Chickahominy and the Doeg in Northern Virginia. The Chickahomonies serve as an example of how limited the Powhatan’s powers could be. Powhatan’s chiefdom relied on the corporation and willingness of other Algonquian groups. The Chickahominy insisted on governing themselves and to have an equal relationship with Powhatan. If Powhatan wished to use them as warriors, he had to hire them and pay them in copper. The Accawmacke (later Gingaskin) of the Eastern Shore, and the Patawomeck of Northern Virginia, were fringe members of the Confederacy. As they were separated by water from Powhatan's domains, the Accawmacke enjoyed some measure of semi-autonomy under their own paramount chief, Debedeavon, aka "The Laughing King".

When the English first established the Virginia Colony, the Powhatan tribes had a combined population of about 15,000. Relations between the two peoples were not always friendly. The Powhatans sealed relationships such as trading agreements and alliances via the kinship between groups involved. The kinship was only formed through a connection to a female member of the group. After Captain John Smith was captured in the winter of 1607 and met with Chief Powhatan, relations were fairly good. Powhatan sent food to the English, and was instrumental in helping the newcomers survive the early years. By the time Smith left Virginia in the fall of 1609, due to a gunpowder accident, relations between the two peoples had begun to sour. Their competition for land and resources led to the First Anglo-Powhatan War. In April 1613, Captain Samuel Argall learned that Powhatan's "favorite" daughter Pocahontas was residing in the Patawomeck village. Argall abducted her to force Powhatan to return English prisoners and stolen agricultural tools and weapons. Negotiations between the two peoples began. It was not until after Pocahontas converted to Christianity and married the Englishman John Rolfe in 1614 that peace was reached between the two peoples. It could be said that the matrilineal connections explain why the role of gender was important in Powhatan society and specifically why Pocahontas’ marriage to John Rolfe was of great importance. The peace continued until after Pocahontas died in England in 1617 and her father in 1618.