Britannica Concise Encyclopedia:

Powhatan


Confederacy of more than 30 North American Indian tribes who once occupied most of what is now tidewater Virginia, the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay, and possibly southern Maryland, U.S. Powhatan languages belong to the Algonquian language family. The confederacy was named for its powerful chief, Powhatan, to whom the tribes provided military support and paid taxes in the form of goods. Many of the villages, consisting of long dwellings covered with bark or reed mats, were palisaded. Powhatan women cultivated corn, beans, and squash; the men hunted and waged war, chiefly against the Iroquois. The intermittent hostilities with the English settlers, often called the Powhatan War (1622 – 44), ended with the dissolution of the confederacy. Early 21st-century population estimates indicated some 2,000 Powhatan descendants.

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