Tsenacommacah
Encyclopedia
Tsenacommacah is what the Powhatan Indians called their homeland. This area encompassed all of Tidewater Virginia and parts of the Eastern Shore
Eastern Shore of Virginia
The Eastern Shore of Virginia consists of two counties on the Atlantic coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The region is part of the Delmarva Peninsula and is separated from the rest of Virginia by the Chesapeake Bay. Its population was 45,553 as of 2010...

. More precisely its boundaries spanned 100 miles (160.9 km) by 100 miles (160.9 km) from near the south side of the mouth of the James River
James River
The James River may refer to:Rivers in the United States and their namesakes* James River * James River , North Dakota, South Dakota* James River * James River * James River...

 all the way north to the south end of the Potomac River
Potomac River
The Potomac River flows into the Chesapeake Bay, located along the mid-Atlantic coast of the United States. The river is approximately long, with a drainage area of about 14,700 square miles...

 and from the Eastern Shore west to about the fall line
Fall line
A fall line is a geomorphologic unconformity between an upland region of relatively hard crystalline basement rock and a coastal plain of softer sedimentary rock. A fall line is typically prominent when crossed by a river, for there will often be rapids or waterfalls...

 of the rivers.

The Powhatan Indians were part of a powerful Chiefdom of Virginia Indian tribes, also known as the Powhatan Confederacy, that spoke an Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

 language. By the time the English arrived in Tsenacommacah, the Powhatan
Powhatan
The Powhatan is the name of a Virginia Indian confederation of tribes. It is estimated that there were about 14,000–21,000 of these native Powhatan people in eastern Virginia when the English settled Jamestown in 1607...

 Indian Chiefdom included over 30 tribes. Each tribe had its own name and chief (werowance/weroance
Weroance
Weroance is an Algonquian word meaning tribal chief, leader, commander, or king, notably among the Powhatan confederacy of the Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. The Powhatan Confederacy, encountered by the colonists of Jamestown and adjacent area of the Virginia Colony beginning in 1607,...

or weroansqua if female), and the chiefdom as a whole was ruled by a paramount chief (mamanatowick) named Wahunsenacawh, or more popularly Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan
Chief Powhatan , whose proper name was Wahunsenacawh , was the paramount chief of Tsenacommacah, an alliance of Algonquian-speaking Virginia Indians in the Tidewater region of Virginia at the time English settlers landed at Jamestown in 1607...

.

The Eastern Shore Indians, the Accawmacke, who numbered around 2000, paid nominal tribute to the Powhatan, but they also enjoyed a large degree of semi-autonomy under their own paramount chief, Debedeavon
Debedeavon
Debedeavon was the chief ruler of the Accawmack Indian nation that was inhabiting the Eastern Shore of Virginia upon the first arrival of English colonists in 1608....

, aka "the Laughing King".

By early 1609, relations had begun to sour between the Powhatan and the English. As a result Powhatan moved his primary residence from Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco
Werowocomoco was a village that served as the political center of the Powhatan Paramount Chiefdom, a grouping of about 30 Virginia Indian tribes speaking an Algonquian language...

, which was off the York River, to Orapax (or Orapakes), located in a swamp at the head of the Chickahominy River
Chickahominy River
The Chickahominy is an river in the eastern portion of the U.S. state of Virginia. The river rises about northwest of Richmond and flows southeast and south to the James River...

. By 1614 Powhatan moved his primary residence again, this time further northwest to Matchut, which was located on the north bank of the Pamunkey River
Pamunkey River
The Pamunkey River is a tributary of the York River, about long, in eastern Virginia in the United States. Via the York River it is part of the watershed of Chesapeake Bay.-Course:...

. This was not far from where his brother Opechancanough ruled at Youghtanund.

Powhatan died in 1618, after which the chiefdom was ultimately passed to his younger brother Opechancanough. He is the one who led the Indian Massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...

 as well as a second attack in 1644. Both of these attacks saw retaliations by the English. A peace treaty, signed in 1646, finally ended conflicts between the Powhatan and the English. The treaty was signed by Opechancanough's successor Necotowance - Opechancanough was captured by the English and killed by an English guard in 1646.

After the treaty of 1646, Tsenacommacah became smaller as the treaty set up boundaries. These boundaries separated Virginia Indian lands from those that were considered English owned. Anyone who crossed could only do so if it was for official business and badges had to be worn that denoted it. The treaty also set up yearly tribute payment, made to the English, as well as reservation lands for several tribes.

Among the surviving tribes of the now-dissolved Confederacy, the Appomattoc
Appomattoc
The Appomattoc were a historic tribe of Virginia Indians speaking an Algonquian language, and residing along the lower Appomattox River, in the area of what is now Petersburg, Colonial Heights, Chesterfield and Dinwiddie Counties in present-day southeast Virginia.The Appomattoc were affiliated...

s, Nansemond
Nansemond
The Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not Federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for Federal recognition under...

s and Weyanokes retreated to the south, becoming independent of Necotowance, as did the Powhites or Powhatan proper. The Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

, Mattaponi
Mattaponi
The Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.The...

, Chickahominy, Rappahannock
Rappahannock Tribe
The Rappahannock are one of the eleven state-recognized Native American tribes in Virginia. They are made up of descendants of several small Algonquian-speaking tribes who merged in the 17th century.-17th century:...

, Kiskiack
Kiskiack
Kiskiack was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy. The name means "Wide Land" or "Bread Place" in the native language, one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the Virginia Peninsula. Later English colonists adopted the name for...

, Wiccocomico
Wicocomico
The Wicocomico, Wiccocomoco, Wighcocomoco, or Wicomico are an Algonquian-speaking tribe who lived in Northumberland County, Virginia, at the end and just slightly north of the Little Wicomico River. They were a fringe group in Powhatan’s Confederacy.-History:The Wicocomico people were encountered...

, Patawomeck
Patawomeck
The Patawomeck tribe of Virginia Indians is based in Stafford County, Virginia, along the Potomac River . It is one of Virginia's 11 recognized American Indian tribes. It is not federally recognized...

, Morattico, Nanzatico
Nanzatico
The Nanzatico community was a group of native americans that included remnants of earlier tribes displaced by English settlers in and around King George County, Virginia...

, Sekakawon, and Onawmanient now occupied the peninsulas north of the York, cut off from the southern tribes by the English enclave.

The Virginia Colony long respected its southern boundary established by this treaty, refusing to recognize settlements beyond it as late as 1705. However, the ban on settling north of the York river was lifted September 1, 1649, and a wave of new immigrants quickly flooded the northern tribes, leaving them as isolated pockets on ever-shrinking pieces of land that was reserved for them. That year, the Pamunkey weroance, Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi
Totopotomoi was a grandson of a sister of Chief Powhatan, the father of Pocahontas. He became the Chief of the Pamunkey Tribe in 1649 when he succeeded Nectowance as chief sometime after the death of Opechancanough...

, received 5000 acres (20.2 km²) for his tribe along both sides of the upper Pamunkey River, and the Kiskiack
Kiskiack
Kiskiack was a Native American tribal group of the Powhatan Confederacy. The name means "Wide Land" or "Bread Place" in the native language, one of the Virginia Algonquian languages. It was also the name of their village on the Virginia Peninsula. Later English colonists adopted the name for...

 weroance, Ossakican was reserved 5000 acres (20.2 km²) on the Piankatank. In 1650, another treaty reserved land for the creation of Indian towns, where 50 acres (202,343 m²) of land was granted per warrior. These lands became smaller and smaller in following years. Tracts were surveyed for the remaining tribes in the following decades, but these quickly shrank as they were sold off, or outright seized.

Following Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter, Nathaniel Bacon.About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans...

, The Treaty of Middle Plantation was signed by many Virginia Indian leaders, in 1677, and it limited Tsenocommacah even more. The treaty set up six reservations, reinforced the annual tribute payment to the English, and more fully acknowledged the Virginia tribes' subjection to the King of England.

All of the reservations, save two, were lost over the next two centuries. Even so, many of the remaining tribes still live in or near the area of their ancestors. The Pamunkey
Pamunkey
The Pamunkey nation are one of eleven Virginia Indian tribes recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The historical tribe was part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking tribes. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up over 30 tribes, estimated to total about...

 and Mattaponi
Mattaponi
The Mattaponi tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on reservation lands that stretch along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.The...

are the only tribes that still maintain their reservations from the 17th century. As such, these two tribes still make their yearly tribute payments, of fish and game, as stipulated by the 1646 and 1677 treaties. As far as anyone knows, the tribes have not missed a "payment" in 331 years. Every year, on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, they go to the Virginia Governor's house in Richmond to make their yearly payment. A ceremony is held in which a deer, turkey, or fish and some pottery are presented to the governor. Before the ceremony a brunch is held where the tribes are able to converse with the governor. It has not always been easy for the Mattaponi and the Pamunkey to get the necessary items for their yearly payment, but they find ways as it is important to them that they uphold their end of the agreement.

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