[Pocahontas taken prisoner in 1612]

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Here Pocahontas, daughter of the Powhatan leader, is shown being taken captive, an event that occurred in 1612 when Englishmen under Captain Samuel Argall seized her to pressure her father into returning English prisoners and stolen tools and weapons. She was held at the English settlement in Virginia, where she was baptized as Rebecca and later married colonist John Rolfe in 1614. This 1618 engraving was made several years after the events it depicts, when English readers were eager for images of the colony and its dealings with Native peoples. Its European style and composition say as much about the audience it was meant for as about the scene itself.

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