Pocahontas was a Native American woman of the Powhatan people, born around 1596.

Her real name was Matoaka; 'Pocahontas' was a childhood nickname.

She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tribes in the region of modern-day Virginia.

She was a young girl, about 10 or 11 years old, when the English colonists established Jamestown in 1607.

The famous story of her 'saving' Captain John Smith's life is likely a misunderstanding of a ritual ceremony, not a romantic intervention.

She served as an important intermediary and diplomat between her people and the struggling English colonists.

In 1613, she was captured and held for ransom by the English.

During her captivity, she converted to Christianity, was baptized with the name Rebecca, and married the colonist John Rolfe.

In 1616, she traveled to England with her husband and was presented at court as a symbol of the 'tamed savage' to promote the Virginia colony.

She died of disease in England in 1617 at the age of about 21.