West Indian connection for the Great North American Amerindian Chief Powhattan of Virginia

Monday, December 7, 2009

In lieu of the recent (and welcomed) attention being paid in the local media on Amerindians and 'prehistoric'
Barbados - I thought readers might also be interested in Amerindians and 'Historic' Barbados.
Please permit me these few lines to highlight a very interesting possibility - namely that the Great American Indian chief Powhattan (real name Wahunsonakok) may have been of West Indian origin - as the sixteenth century Spanish account alludes to in the text excerpt below. Internet searches of several records
including US Military historical archives - state that his son Metacomet's (aka King Phillip) nine year old son and wife Nanuskooke were shipped to Barbados after his death and sold to local white planters for one pound sterling each, our local Artist Mrs. Gunni Johnson created a stunning masterpiece several years
ago highlighting this virtually unknown fact of Barbadian history.

By 1667 Barbados had the unsavory reputation as being a principal hub for the Amerindian slave trade
in North American and South American captives; even fewer know the famous 'Salem witch trials' of
American history - have a Barbadian origin (Plantocrat Samuel Parris and his Guyanese Lokono-
Arawak captive Tituba) - but more about that later.

Way-back in 1652 - The German Heinrich Von Uchteritz who was living in Barbados recorded that
"Most Barbadian born whites were half-breed Amerindians of sallow complexion". In 1657 Richard
Ligon (who had lived in Barbados in 1647) stated that European men in the Barbados colony preferred
Amerindian women as wives and the practice was widespread on the island.
I would be interested in seeing DNA test results for Euro-Barbadians in light of the two aforementioned
observations and that of Quaker George Fox who visited Barbados in 1671 and recorded that most
white families in Barbados had Amerindian wives/mothers.

On official records we know for a fact that Lokono-Arawaks (from present day Guyana), Kalinago-
Caribs (from the Lesser Antilles), Pequot, Susquehannock, Westo, Stono, Kusso, Sowee, Apalachee,
Wampanoag, Yamasee and Ute (all from the present day United States of America) - WERE sold to the
plantocracy in Barbados between 1637 and 1709

I have a strong feeling that many Barbadians have Amerindian DNA and are not aware of it.
Readers should note that 'Amerindian' is merely an abbreviation for the two words 'American Indian'
used to describe the Indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere (except the Arctic), many a West
Indian mistakenly believes that 'Amerindian' is a term used to refer to indigenous people in Guyana
only; another point to note - 'East Indians' and 'Amerindians' are two entirely different peoples that are
in no way related to each other.

Yours sincerely,
Damon Gerard Corrie

An Outline History of the Chickahominy Republicand Nation — 1570 - 1908 "1570: The Spaniards attempted to gain a foothold in Virginia, within the territory of the Tsen-Akamak (the Long House or Powhatan Confederation). The Native Americans soon realized what the Spaniards were trying to do and all of the invaders were destroyed. It is possible that West Indian natives came with the Spaniards as servants and that these persons may have joined the Powhatans. [In later years it was said that both Wahunsonakok or Powhatan and Opechankanoh were of West Indian origin]."