Pocahontas and Captain John Smith – Love and Survival in the New World

History 52' 2009 HD

At the beginning of the 17th century Spain controls wide parts of America. English monarch James I. must act. Under the command of adventurer John Smith a permanent settlement is to be established.

The colony gets off to a bad start. The settlers are starving, many die. Smith initiates contact with the Indians who take him captive. His life is saved by a Native girl who begs the powerful Chief Powhatan for his pardon. She is his daughter Pocahontas.

Pocahontas serves as a cultural mediator, securing the colony’s survival. Many settlers distrust her. When Smith returns to England, the colonists pretend he died, take Pocahontas hostage and blackmail her father. She marries tobacco farmer John Rolfe and travels to England. There, she encounters Smith whom she had presumed dead…

This romantic tale is a lasting American legend. Was it really a love story or have later generations glorified their relationship?

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