Pocahontas
Pocahontas was the beautiful daughter of Powhatan, a very important Indian chief in Virginia, USA. Her real name was Matoaka and she was very brave and clever.
She tried hard to promote peace between her people and the English colonists who arrived in her country and settled there. Pocahontas managed to learn to speak English. She believed that the English could teach her people a lot of new things.
One winter, the English didn’t have any food so she asked her father to give them food. But soon, the Powhatans and the English started fighting again. During a fight the Indians arrested an English captain, John Smith. Pocahontas saved his life. In 1613, the colonists arrested her. Pocahontas stayed in prison for a year. She had such good manners that the English liked her and so they didn’t hurt her. In April 1614, she married colonist John Rolfe. This helped end the war between the Powhatans and the English colonists. Unfortunately, while she was in England with her husband and son, Thomas, visiting King James I, she got ill and died. She was only 22.