BACKGROUND INFORMATION on NAMONTACK and the VIRGINIA INDIANS with Some Questions to Think About

BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON NAMONTACK AND THE VIRGINIA INDIANS With Some Questions to Think About

In January 1608 Christopher Newport gave Chief Powhatan a 13-year-old English teenager named Thomas Savage. The young man was to live among the Virginia Indians for a time in order to learn their language and customs. In return Chief Powhatan gave Newport one of his trusted servants, a young man named Namontack, to take back to England with him. Powhatan wanted Namontack to see the country and bring back a report on what he saw.

Namontack left Virginia on April 10, 1608 with Christopher Newport and arrived in England on May 21st. Obviously Namontack was familiar with the sight of English sailing ships, but what would have been his reaction when he reached the harbor in England and saw the great number of ships from all over Europe that were anchored there? Perhaps, Namontack saw exotic people from far away places such as India or Africa and heard a babble of languages he never knew existed. What did he think of it all?

While he was in England Namontack most likely traveled in a carriage drawn by horses. It would certainly have been the first time he had ever ridden in a carriage and possibly the first time he had ever seen a horse. On his journey through the countryside he would have seen:

• A land with few trees. • Fenced pastureland and sheep—all privately owned. (Wool was an important export in England and many large landowners had decided to stop leasing their land to tenant farmers in order fence the land to raise sheep, as it was more profitable.) • Houses made of stone or brick. • Great walled castles for defending strategic regions. • Small villages surrounded by farmlands cultivated by male farmers using plows drawn by teams of oxen. • Towns and large cities. • Domestic animals—chickens, hogs, sheep, goats, cows, dogs, horses and oxen.

What a contrast to his homeland! Tsenacommacoh, the territory of the Virginia Indians:

• Was heavily wooded. • Had large rivers and numerous creeks surrounded by flat marshland. • Had no fences. • Had no buildings of stone. • Had no private ownership of land—in Tsenacommacoh the land belonged to the community and each community had a recognized territory to occupy and use. • Had towns with over a hundred inhabitants. • Had towns and villages enclosed with palisades located on the fringes of the chiefdom to defend against attacks by their enemies—the Monacans and the Massawomecks. • Had scattered villages surrounded by cultivated fields cared for by women and children using bone and wood tools. • Had no domestic animals, except dogs.

What did Namontack think of the English countryside? Did he miss the woods, the rivers and marshes? How did he like riding in the carriage? Would he have preferred to travel on foot, as he would have done in Virginia or in one of the canoes his people shaped from tree trunks as is seen in this drawing?

There were a number of large towns and cities in England in the early 17th century. London, the largest city and the capital, had a population of approximately 200,000 people. London:

• Was crowded with houses built side-by-side with the second story jutting out two or three feet over the street making the streets narrow, airless and dark. • Had houses that were framed with woven wooden slats and a few large timbers and plastered over with a mixture of clay, sand, straw and water with roofs of thatched straw. • Was polluted with the smoke of hundreds of fires used for industry, cooking and heating. • Had many churches where services where held every Sunday and on Holy days. • Had areas with great mansions built of stone and surrounded by gardens. • Had been located in the same place for hundreds of years. Example of English cities and buildings

Example of English town

Compared to London Virginia Indian towns/villages were small. The population of the entire region of Tsenacommacoh was only 15,000 to 20,000 people. Virginia Indian towns: • Were built on high ground near rivers and creeks with houses scattered about between trees and cleared fields. Only in the towns enclosed by a palisade were the houses built close together. • Had no streets. • Had houses, called yehakans, that were round or oval in shape and made of bent saplings covered with woven reed mats and/or bark from trees. • Had areas where prominent people lived in bigger houses covered entirely in bark • Were smoky from the fires burning inside the yehakans and the cooking fires located outside. • Had secluded temples kept by the quiocosuks or priests used as mortuaries or storehouses while religious services were held in special areas away from the temples. • Were semi-permanent, as the inhabitants left for periods of time to set up temporary hunting and fishing camps elsewhere. Villages were relocated periodically to an area with more fertile land for planting.

Example of Virginia Indian town Example of Virginia Indian homes and town

Namontack was probably given English clothing to wear on his journey. In England:

• People wore clothes made of linen, wool, linsy-woolsy (a combination of the two), silk and velvet. Wealthy people had clothes embroidered with gold and silver thread or had fancy buttons and added metallic or braided trim, lace and/or ribbons to their clothing. • Men wore loose fitting white linen shirts with full sleeves, full breeches gathered below the knee, doublets (jackets) with detachable sleeves, long stockings of linen, wool or silk and leather shoes or boots. • Women wore loose fitting white linen shifts with full sleeves, boned stays, petticoats (skirts) and a bodice (jacket) with detachable sleeves, long stockings of linen, wool or silk and leather shoes and a white linen cap called a coif on their heads. • Both men and women wore full cloaks sometimes lined or trimmed with fur to keep warm.

English Clothes

In Tsenacommacoh:

• People wore clothes made of animal skins and woven grasses. • Both men and women wore only an apron or skirt around their waist long in the front and short in the back. • Young children generally went naked. • Both men and women wore leggings and moccasins of leather to protect their legs and feet when going into a wooded area. • Wealthy or prominent people decorated their clothing with copper, bone or shell beads, used paints to make designs or embroidered designs on them with shells. • In the cold weather an upper garment was added for warmth—a semi-circular cloak tied over one arm or capes called mantles. Prominent people had mantles woven with grasses, made of feathers or raccoon or beaver pelts sewn together. Virginia Indian Clothes Virginia Indian and English Settler on the banks of the James River

When Namontack was in England, he would have eaten English food. In England: • Most people bought their food from farmers who earned their living by growing grain, vegetables and fruit and raising domestic animals for meat. • Commercial fishing fleets provided fish for sale. • Landowners hunted on their private land for pleasure and fished in their streams and lakes for recreation not to provide food for their families. • Some food was imported from other countries: fruits, like lemons and oranges that could not be grown in England, sugar, spices and wine. • Cakes, honey, jams, jellies and other sweets were available. • Salt and sugar are used to preserve foods. • People who lacked money to buy food often begged in the streets.

In Tsenacommacoh:

• Every family provided its own food. The men hunted and fished to feed their families while the women planted fields of corn, beans, squash and sunflowers. • Women and children gathered food from the forests—nuts, acorns and berries—and a plant called tuckahoe from the marshlands. • Each village or town planted an extra field or two of corn, beans and squash in order to have a surplus, but it was not the custom to raise food to sell. • There was no sugar or honey. (Honeybees are not native to North America and were brought here by English settlers in 1622). • Food was preserved by smoking or drying. • Food was available for everyone.

How do you think Namontack liked English food? Since he was not used to sugar or honey, do you think he liked the English sweets? The English did not grow corn, which was the staple of the Virginia Indian diet. Did Namontack miss eating it?

Namontack left England sometime in July 1608 and returned to Virginia with Christopher Newport and the second supply of settlers and provisions to Jamestown. He arrived there the end of September. He was not in England for very long and we do not know what he saw or did while he was there or what he thought of it. Use the above information and your imagination to answer questions in your interview.

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT (For Prospective “Reporters” Interviewing Namontack)

Namontack left Virginia on April 10, 1608 with Christopher Newport and arrived in England on May 21st. Let us pretend that in 1608 a reporter for your newspaper or TV News Channel interviewed Namontack. The interview would have been videotaped, recorded on a tape recorder or have been a written interview for the newspaper. Recreate that interview and make it available to the “reporters” who are investigating the Virginia colony in the year 1638 to determine if it is a good place to live or not.

Here is some information about life in England, which you would naturally have been familiar with:

• England was a place where land was privately owned. Royalty, wealthy nobles, and gentlemen owned the forests and large wooded areas along with much of the farmland. • Much of the land was used as pasture for sheep in 1638—wool was an important export in England and many large landowners had decided to stop leasing their land to tenant farmers in order to fence the land for grazing sheep. • There were houses of stone and great walled castles used for defending strategic regions in the countryside. • There were small villages surrounded by farmlands cultivated by male farmers using plows drawn by oxen. • There were large towns and cities—London in the early 17th century had a population of about 200,000 people. • English people wore clothing made of linen, wool, linsy-woolsy (a combination of the two), silk and velvet. • They got their food much the same way we get our food today—most people bought it from other people who made their living by selling produce, fish and domestic animals. Only wealthy landowners hunted and fished on their private land, but for pleasure not to put food on the table. • People who lacked money to buy food often begged in the streets. Namontack left England sometime in July 1608 and returned to Virginia with Christopher Newport and the second supply of settlers and provisions to Jamestown. He arrived there the end of September 1608. He was not in England for very long and we do not know what he did or saw while he was there or what he thought of it.

In your interview with Namontack try to find out about the Virginia Indian life style and how it compared to English life and customs. To help you with your questions here are some things to think about:

• The English did not grow or eat corn. They imported sugar and spices along with other foods not available in their country and were very fond of “sweets”. • The Virginia Indians did not grow oats, wheat or barley as they did in England. They did not have sweets. How did Namontack like English food? • Namontack probably wore English clothes on his trip. Did he like them? • How did he react to the crowded cities and towns? And how did he react to the beggars in the streets? • More than likely Namontack rode in a carriage drawn by horses when he was in England. How did he like traveling by carriage? What did he think of horses and the other domestic animals he saw in England? • What kind of report on English life do you think Namontack gave Powhatan when he returned to Virginia?

Some Scenes of English Life

English Harbor and Ships English Clothes