“She [Pocahontas] never spoke about herself, she never represented her emotions, her presence or her history . He [John Smith] spoke and stood for her” – Edward Said Orientalism 62 Pocahontas, a Powhatan Indian princess, emerged from a culture of dark superstitions and improved her relations with a small group of English settlers at Jamestown and the rulers New World English. . His father, Chief Powhatan, was a respected and influential leader who by the 17th century had made his people no less primitive, but certainly stronger and more formidable than before. In 1605, the English were just discovering the promised land, and the Indians were discovering the Europeans with their weapons and their diseases. Young Pocahontas managed to maintain moral relations between the Powhatan Indians and the early English settlers in Jamestown, Virginia through John Smith and the English captain. Pocahontas single-handedly instigated one of the rare eras of harmony between the Indians and European settlers. John Smith and two of his troops were shot behind bushes and wounded by the Powhatans. John Smith took his gun and started shooting; killing four of the fifteen Indians, but the Indians supported Smith to a river. He fell into the water and could either drop his gun or drown. Smith dropped the gun and accepted help from the Indians. Pocahontas, whom Smith remembers as "a child of ten years old", witnessed this catastrophe and "took his head in her arms and placed hers on his to save him from death: the emperor was content to live to make it hatches. »The Powhatons were a ceremonial tribe who formally welcomed important visitors with a grand feast and festive dancing. However, it was not uncommon... middle of paper ... United States: Pantheon Books, 1997. Horwitz, Tony. 2013. “POCAHONTAS ENGRAVING.” Smithsonian 41, no. 7:91-118. History Reference Center, EBSCOhost (accessed January 28, 2014). Kelly, James C. and Barbara Clark Smith. Three North American debuts. Edited by Nancy Eickel. Np: HarperCollins, 2007. Nabokov, Peter, ed. Native American testimony. New York, NY: The Penguin Group, 1991. “Pocahontas,” The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/pocahontas-9443116 (accessed January 28, 2014). “Pocahontas,” The History Channel website, http://www.history.com/topics/pocahontas (accessed January 28, 2014). World History: The Modern Era, sv “Pocahontas”, accessed January 28, 2014. http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/.World History: The Modern Era, sv “John Smith: quote on Pocahontas”, accessed on January 28, 2014. http://worldhistory.abc-clio.com/.