Let's Start with Just the Facts: Jamestown was England's first permanent settlement in the “New” World. The settlement was founded in 1607 in the same region where Pocahontas by a company called the Virginia Company. Chartered by King James I, the goal of the Virginia Company was to make profit for its investors, which it eventually did by planting and selling . Eventually, the Virginia Company was dissolved in 1624 when Virginia became a royal colony of Great Britain, the first of the 13 British colonies.

Today we will learn about a young woman known as Pocahontas. Her formal name was Amonute, and “Pocahontas” is actually a childhood nickname meaning “ ” or “mysterious.” While her actual birthdate is unknown, most historians agree that she was born between 1595-1597 into what the Confederacy, a powerful alliance of about 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes around Chesapeake Bay. As Pocahontas grew up, she would have been taught women's work of planting and harvesting vegetables, which was separate from men's work of hunting and foraging for food. Both were taxing and equally as both types of work benefited all of Powhatan society.