Slaves And Englishmen

IN 1607, CHIEF POWHATAN HEARD NEWS OF HUNGRY STRANGERS trespassing on his lands and demanding corn from his people. The strangers were Englishmen, and their brand-new colony was Jamestown, Virginia.We know that Virginia became a permanent colony, that tobacco and slaves made many of
its settlers wealthy, and that they eventually crowded the Powhatan Indians from their lands to make room for more tobacco plantations. Because we
know that future, we might assume that, in 1607, Chief Powhatan felt desperate and helpless when confronted by these powerful Europeans. But when we
learn a bit more about the Powhatans and their history, we see that the situation was the opposite—Powhatan believed that these newcomers would be
fairly easy to subordinate. He assumed he would dominate them.