Indian massacre of 1622

Indian massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
Part of the British colonization of the Americas and the Anglo-Powhatan Wars
	1628 engraving of the massacre by Matthäus Merian the Elder
Location	Colony of Virginia
Date	22 March 1622
Target	English settlers
Attack type	Massacre
Deaths	347 settlers
Perpetrators	Powhatan tribesmen
Motive	Colonial encroachment on Powhatan lands

The Indian massacre of 1622 took place in the English colony of Virginia on 1 April [O.S. 22 March] 1622. English explorer John Smith, though he was not an eyewitness, wrote in his History of Virginia that warriors of the Powhatan "came unarmed into our houses with deer, turkeys, fish, fruits, and other provisions to sell us";^[2] they then grabbed any tools or weapons available and killed all English settlers they found, including men, women, and children of all ages. Opechancanough, chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, led a coordinated series of surprise attacks that ended up killing a total of 347 people — a quarter of the population of the Colony of Virginia.

Founded in 1607, Jamestown, Virginia, was the site of the first successful English settlement in North America, and served as the capital of the Colony of Virginia. The town's tobacco economy, which quickly degraded the land and required new land, led to the settlers' constant expansion and seizure of Powhatan lands, ultimately provoking the massacre.^[3]

^ Mooney, James (1907). "The Powhatan Confederacy, Past and Present". American Anthropologist. 9 (1): 137.
^ Mooney, James (1907). "The Powhatan Confederacy, Past and Present". American Anthropologist. 9 (1): 129–152.
^ Wood, Origins of American Slavery (1997), p. 72. "By 1620 the colonists were simply taking the acres they required for their expanding tobacco economy without even the pretense of negotiation or payment. Increasing encroachments on indigenous peoples' lands, and particularly onto their hunting grounds, largely accounted for the deterioration of relations between the English and the indigenous populations of the Tidewater Chesapeake that finally exploded in 1622."

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[mooney1-1] Mooney, James (1907). "The Powhatan Confederacy, Past and Present". American Anthropologist. 9 (1): 137.

[mooney2-3] Mooney, James (1907). "The Powhatan Confederacy, Past and Present". American Anthropologist. 9 (1): 129–152.

[4] Wood, Origins of American Slavery (1997), p. 72. "By 1620 the colonists were simply taking the acres they required for their expanding tobacco economy without even the pretense of negotiation or payment. Increasing encroachments on indigenous peoples' lands, and particularly onto their hunting grounds, largely accounted for the deterioration of relations between the English and the indigenous populations of the Tidewater Chesapeake that finally exploded in 1622."

[note 1]

[2]

[3]