In this excerpt from “A Dictionarie of the Indian Language, for the Better Enabling of Such Who Shalbe Thither Ymployed,” William Strachey compiled what he believed to be words spoken by the Virginia Indians of Tsenacomoco who lived in the Tidewater when the Jamestown colonists landed in 1607. Appearing at the end of The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia , Strachey’s dictionary consisted of 400 words, of which 263 accurately represent Algonquian-language words or phrases, according to the linguist Frank T. Siebert Jr.
Category: Indians
“A true description of the people, of their cullour, attire, ornaments, constitutions, dispositions, etc.”; an excerpt from The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia by William Strachey (1612, pub. 1849)
In chapter 5 of the first book of The Historie of Travaile into Virginia Britannia, completed by William Strachey in 1612 and published in 1849, Strachey describes the attire and appearance of the Virginia Indians he encountered, including Pocahontas.
“An act concerning Indians” (October 1665)
In “An act concerning Indians,” passed in October 1665, the General Assembly, among other things, reserves to the governor the right to appoint tribal weroances, or chiefs, for Virginia Indians.
“An act concerning the building of a ffort” (October 1665)
In “An act concerning the building of a ffort,” passed in October 1665, the General Assembly requires that the Patawomecks sell all of their remaining land for the site of a fort.
“An act concerning the Northerne Indians” (September 1663)
In “An act concerning the Northerne Indians,” passed in September 1663, the General Assembly requires the Patawomeck Indians to return English hostages taken while repelling an English attack against them.
“An Act directing the trial of Slaves, committing capital crimes; and for the more effectual punishing conspiracies and insurrections of them; and for the better government of Negros, Mulattos, and Indians, bond or free” (1723)
In “An Act directing the trial of Slaves, committing capital crimes; and for the more effectual punishing conspiracies and insurrections of them; and for the better government of Negros, Mulattos, and Indians, bond or free,” passed by the General Assembly in the session of May 1723, Virginia’s colonial government establishes laws with regards to the punishment of slaves and the overall government of slaves, free blacks, and Indians.
“An act for keeping holy the 13th of September” (1663)
“An act for the apprehension and suppression of runawayes, negroes and slaves.” (1672)
In “An act for the apprehension and suppression of runawayes, negroes and slaves.,” passed by the General Assembly in the session of September 1672, colonial Virginia’s government reinforces the idea that negroes and slaves belong in the same legal category.
“An act to repeale a former law makeing Indians and others ffree” (1682)
In “An act to repeale a former law makeing Indians and others ffree,” passed by the General Assembly in the session of November 1682, Virginia’s colonial government attempts to clarify the definitions of indentured servants and slaves.
“Concerning Indians” (1662)
In the following act, “Concerning Indians,” passed in its March 1662 (New Style) session, the General Assembly attempts to regulate various interactions colonists have with the neighboring Virginia Indians.