Native Virginian Society - as reported by the English colonists

When the English arrived at Jamestown in 1607, they encountered a so called native American "woodland" society.  These people spoke the Algonquin language and were bordered by Iroquoian speakers to the North, Sioux speakers to the West, and Cherokee speakers to the South.

The significant cultural interactions between the English and the Native population was primarily with the Algonquin speaking people and the English learned to the language to a limited extent.  Sadly, the Algonquin language was totally forgotten by the natives by the mid 1700s, so oral traditions were lost.  In recent times, anthropologists have studied this society using the written reports from the colonists and evidence from archeological digs. 

This society was dominated by the Powhatan confederacy ruled by the Paramount Chief known as Powhatan ( ).    Algonquin speakers on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake were independent of the confederacy and had their own Paramount chiefs. 

Although the native people of this area had cultural roots dating back 12,000 years, the  political structure may have existed for a few hundred years and was at a very advanced stage of stability when the English arrived. 

 In this section, we will describe and interpret cultural anecdotes as reported by the English.  Bear in mind that this was a society that had learned to live in harmony amongst themselves and with the natural environment and, as such, are today a topic a anthropological interest.  Archeological digs have been conducted over the last 30 years and people are actively working in various areas in Virginia and on the Eastern Shore, and finding out new things all the time !.    

As bizarre as these aborigines may seem, they represent one of  viable solution that our intelligent human brethren have found to survive and make sense out of out of this world.