As we celebrate the 400th anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, the first successful English colony in America, another important book on the subject has appeared. Captain John Smith is famous for saving the colony when it was on the verge of collapse and winning the affections of paramount chief Powhatan’s daughter Pocahontas. But perhaps his most lasting contribution to American history is the detailed descriptions of Chesapeake Bay and the native people who lived there. From 1607 to 1609, Smith undertook a series of explorations of the region and recorded his findings in copious journals and maps.
In this outstanding volume, scholars from various disciplines retrace Smith’s voyages and explorations and reconstruct the Chesapeake environment and the native people Smith encountered. It is the earliest ethnographic record of native people in the United States, which is doubly important given the dearth of the archaeological record. Smith discovered that the Algonquin-speaking Indians lived in communities, presided over by local chiefs who were subservient to paramount chiefs, who controlled large areas and many villages. In 1608 there were four such groups on the Chesapeake—the Powhatans, the Piscataways, the Nanticokes, and the Asseateagues. Most of the villages were large extended families with as many as 50 people. The larger settlements had a couple of hundred people living inside a wooden palisade. Thanks to Smith, we have a snapshot of native life in 1607-09 that includes social structure, political organization, trade, agriculture, and much more. We also know the names of many towns and their general locations drawn on Smith’s maps of the Chesapeake.
Illustrated with some 60 photos and drawings as well as 34 maps, most of which are in color, this is a beautifully produced book. Modern archaeologists have located few of the dozens of villages described by Smith, and even fewer have been preserved. Hopefully, this volume will guide a new generation of archaeologists to a vast store of material culture that existed on the Chesapeake when the English arrived. In the meantime, we have an exciting and detailed account to read.
