Relation of Virginia

Henry Spelman was a new arrival in England's Jamestown colony who, at age fourteen, was sent to live with the Powhatans, Pocahontas's people. Henry is unique among boys who lived with Native people because he wrote about his experiences, and his memoir is a major source on Chesapeake Algonquian life in the early days of English colonization. As he matured, he was caught between loyalties. Colonial authorities put him on trial for informing Opechancanough, the Powhatan chief, about changes in Jamestown, and he died at the age of twenty-eight in fighting between Natives and English.Karen Ordahl Kupperman is Silver Professor of History Emerita at New York University. Her books include The Atlantic in World History (Oxford University Press), The Jamestown Project (Belknap Press), and Indians and English (Cornell University Press), Winner of the AHA Prize in Atlantic History.

"InRelation of Virginia,Ms. Kupperman provides an impeccable scholarly transcription of the account Spelman gave while visiting England in 1611-12. He described the land and its natural resources, its husbandry, the Indians towns, their spiritual beliefs, marriage customs, laws and government with a freshness that reflected his deep familiarity with their culture. His vivid descriptions are among the earliest English accounts of American Indian life." (Wall Street Journal) "Kupperman brilliantly restores Spelman's personal observations of the Virginia Indians and his report of their traditions and customs by transcribing the original manuscript and writing a detailed introduction to accompany the document that every scholar interested in Jamestown should have on their bookshelves." (Journal of British Studies)