Pocahontas Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Pocahontas - Essay Example This custom could be seen as a ritual death which the hostile natives perpetrated on strangers in their land. Later, the chief adopted Smith as his son, or a subordinate chief. Pocahontas and Smith soon became friends. Pocahontas started visiting the English settlement to bring them food since there was always a shortage of food in the English settlements where Smith lived. The colonists were not adept at hunting food and also were not familiar with the local terrains which became a handicap in their search for food. Despite being the chieftain’s daughter, Pocahontas provided immense help to the English settlers, for which her efforts should be seen as the first attempt to bridge the cultural difference and ethnic rivalry. Because of this contribution, â€Å"she remains an important part of American folk history to this day.† (Spectrum home & school magazine 2006). Subsequently, an injury from a gunpowder explosion forced John Smith to return to England in 1609. The settlers told the natives that John Smith was dead and Pocahontas also believed it. In the year 1613, Pocahontas was kidnapped by some English settlers and brought to Jamestown. They used her as a ransom for negotiating the release of English prisoners and firearms from her father. He agreed to release the prisoners but refused to part with the weapons, and hence Pocahontas was held back. From Jamestown she was moved to Henrico for religious indoctrination into Christianity. This denotes the fact that intrinsically the Algonquian tribe was receptive to the idea of cultural transition from one religion to another. This is all the more significant because a teenage girl had done this. She was one of the first America in Virginia State to convert to Christianity, and this act pioneered the advent of Christianity in North America, from where it spread to other regions of America. Thus Pocahontas marked an important milestone in the cultural history of America. During her stay in Henrico, in the