Tsenacommacah
Tsenacommacah (pronounced /ˌsɛnəˈkɒməkə/ SEN-ə-KOM-ə-kə in English; also written Tscenocomoco, Tsenacomoco, Tenakomakah, Attanoughkomouck, and Attan-Akamik)[1] is the name given by the Powhatan people to their native homeland,[2] the area encompassing all of Tidewater Virginia and parts of the Eastern Shore. More precisely, its boundaries spanned 100 miles (160 km) by 100 miles (160 km) from near the south side of the mouth of the James River all the way north to the south end of the Potomac River and from the Eastern Shore west to about the Fall Line of the rivers.[3][4]
Powhatan ConfederacyTsenacommacah (Powhatan)
Late 16th c.
1610-1614
1622-1626
1644-1646
1676
1677
The term Tsenacommacah comes from the Powhatan language, and means “densely inhabited land.”
Society[edit]
Population[edit]
The population of Tsenacommacah was 14,000 to 21,000 people by 1607. The tribes shared mutually intelligible dialects of the Powhatan language. The language, however, died out by the 1790s after the people switched to English. Much of the language has been forgotten, and is only known from two wordlists made by William Strachey and Captain John Smith. However, there have been attempts to reconstruct the language, particularly from linguists like Frank T. Siebert and Blair A. Rudes.
Government[edit]
Capitals[edit]
Tsenacommacah originally had two capitals. The main capital was the village of Werowocomoco, located in present-day Gloucester County. The second capital, the village of Powhatan was believed to be in the present-day Powhatan Hill section of the eastern part of Richmond, Virginia, or perhaps nearby in a location that became part of Tree Hill Farm.
The English colonists described Werowocomoco as only 15 miles (24 km) as the crow flies from Jamestown, but they also described as 25 miles (40 km) downstream from present-day West Point, measurements which conflict with each other. In 2003, archaeologists initiated excavations at a site in Gloucester County that revealed an extensive Indigenous settlement from about 1200 CE (the late Woodland period) through the early contact period. Work since then has added to their belief that this is the location of Werowocomoco. The site is on a farm bordering on Purtan Bay of the York River, about 12 nautical miles (22 km) from Jamestown. The more than 50 acres (200,000 m2) residential settlement extends up to 1,000 feet (300 m) back from the river. In 2004, researchers excavated two curving ditches of 200 feet (60 m) at the far edge, which were constructed about 1400 CE. In addition to extensive artifacts from hundreds of years of Indigenous settlement, researchers have found a variety of trade goods related to the brief interaction of Native Americans and English in the early years of Jamestown.
Around 1609, Wahunsenacawh shifted his capital from Werowocomoco to Orapakes, located in a swamp at the head of the Chickahominy River, near the modern-day interchange of Interstate 64 and Interstate 295. Sometime between 1611 and 1614, he moved further north to Matchut, in present-day King William County on the north bank of the Pamunkey River.
Leadership[edit]
Each tribe had its own name and chief (werowance/weroance if male or weroansqua if female), and Tsenacommacah as a whole was ruled by a paramount chief (mamanatowick) named Wahunsenacawh, or more popularly Chief Powhatan.[6]
The Mamanatowick let their district and subordinate weroances make the final decision on how to handle hostile situations. This was made apparent with the events that took place in 1607 and the hostility with the newcomers (English colonists). Weroances and Priest were the only ones allowed to enter into religious temples. A weroance did not go to meet any visitor, visitors were escorted to see a weroance. The weroance, their wives, and councilors often dressed in the finest jewels, and tanned deer skin.[17]
Several of the weroances' personal names were known and some recorded by William Strachey and other sources.[18] The names of their respective chieftaincies were also commonly used as titles, exactly analogous to European peerages, so that the Weroance of Arrohattec (whose given name was Ashaquid) was often referred to simply as "Arrohattec", much as the Earl of Essex would be referred to just as "Essex" instead of a personal name.
When the first English colonists arrived in Virginia, some of the weroances subject to the paramount chief Powhatan, or mamanatowick (Wahunsenacawh) were his own nearest male relatives:
In Tsenacommacah, women could inherit power, because the inheritance of power was matrilineal. In A Map of Virginia John Smith of Jamestown explains: