I think almost everyone of you has seen the Disney movie Pocahontas, the lovely told story based on the folktales around the Native American woman who fell in love with the Enlgish settler John Smith in the 17th century. I don't know anyone who wasn't enchanted after seeing the movie, who wasn't amazed by her beauty and intelligence.
But how much of this film is actually true? I tried to find out.
The true parts about the movie are that Pocahontas was the favourite and beloved daughter of the chief of the Powhatan tribe in Jamestown, Virginia. Her nature was playful, curious and non-judgemental. She may not have been that beautiful as the film shows (neither was John), on the contrary, she was described as rather stocky and short, which was typical for the Powhatan tribe. Also, she was only 11-13 years old when the events happened, but the movie made her look like 17-20.
The sad truth for Disney movie lovers like me is that John Smith and Pocahontas never fell in love or had some sort of romance, she actually married John Rolfe who arrived together with John Smith 1607 in Jamestown (in the movie, he doesn't appear until the second movie)
In the movie, John Smith was shot by the bad guy, the governor, but in reality, there was no governor at that time.
The ture story is that John Smith's crew experienced a very cold and harsh winter. Running out of supplies, they started searching for food. One day in 1608, John smith and some of his crewmembers were captured by the Native Americans. His men were killed immediately and he was brought to Chief Powhatan who ordered to kill him as well. In the last second, little Pocahontas, not more than 13 years old, asked her father to spare Smith's life. So he did. That's where fiction and realty match.
I hope you enjoyed reading my post and now know a little bit more about the mysterious Native American woman! :)
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