Pocahontas was born into Virginia’s Powhatan Tribe and was a peacemaker between the Jamestown colonists and her fellow Native Americans long before a Disney film popularized her. After being captured, she married colonist John Rolfe and moved to London with him. But did you know that Pocahontas lived a few hundred yards away from Squanto in London?
Pocahontas and Squanto both spent two months in London in 1617. Pocahontas lived with the Virginia Company’s Treasurer, while Squanto lived with the Newfoundland Company’s Treasurer. They lived only a few hundred yards apart.
Two Natives Americans Living in London
At the same time Pocahontas was in London, another famous Native American, Squanto, was also there before returning to the New World and serving as an emissary and translator for the Pilgrims.
A scholar believes the two may have crossed paths during their two-month stay in London in 1617. Emily Rose, a Princeton PhD student who spent the spring as a visiting fellow at the Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation, believes she has discovered circumstantial evidence that the two Native Americans met.
According to Rose, Pocahontas and Squanto lived only a few hundred yards apart in London and were also part of the same social circle.
Members of Pocahontas’ delegation were housed with Sir Thomas Smythe, Treasurer of the Virginia Company, which established the Jamestown Colony. Squanto lived with John Slaney, the Newfoundland Company’s Treasurer.
Smith and Slaney had similar business interests, including holdings in the East India Company.
I find it fascinating that the person who paid for Pocahontas’s trip [to London] and who housed Squanto were both members of the East India Company, there’s no smoking gun document— it’s likelihood, not proof.
Emily Rose, Princeton University
Rose wrote in a recent post for The Junto, an early-American history blog that meeting Squanto and Pocahontas at the theater, a neighborhood church or market, or a nearby merchant’s home or office would have been extraordinary. (Source: Colonial American History)
Rose wrote in a recent post for The Junto, an early-American history blog that meeting Squanto and Pocahontas at the theater, a neighborhood church or market, or a nearby merchant’s home or office would have been extraordinary. (Source: Colonial American History)
Squanto and Pocahontas
Despite the accuracy of the stories they are best known for, the stories of Pocahontas and Squanto helped shape early American history. While both Native American individuals share many similarities, explaining why their stories have survived history rather than countless other Native Americans who presumably had equal, if not greater, heroic stories than the two, their differences are more intriguing.
Even as symbols of peace between Natives and Europeans, Pocahontas and Squanto were ultimately favored more by Europeans.
Europeans idolized the two as colonial captives at the peak of their stories and lives, praising Pocahontas’ charming and witty personality and Squanto’s diplomatic and skilled demeanor.
Intrigued by their unique characteristics, Europeans adapted their colonial ways and goals, teaching them proper English, how to dress and behave, and other things. Pocahontas and Squanto are revered as American heroes, but Pocahontas’s enduring fame is undeniable, while Squanto’s diminishing fame is questionable.
As a result, it is ironic that Squanto appears to be the more admirable of the two. Squanto’s acclaim is to be expected as a wise and resourceful individual. On the other hand, Pocahontas appeared to be in the right place at the right time, which explains why she obtained Merritt.
By delving deeper into their true stories rather than what is known about them through history, their differences can account for why Pocahontas is more memorable than the lesser-known Squanto. (Source: Colonial American History)
Image from Tbn.Org