The Real Story Of Amonute,

or her lesser known more private name Matoaka,

'who the what?' I hear you ask, you might know her as Pocahontas, her nickname, which depending on who you ask means “playful one" or “ill-behaved child.” Amonute was the favourite daughter of Powhatan, the formidable ruler of the more than 30 Algonquian-speaking tribes in and around the area that the early English settlers would claim as Jamestown, Virginia, years later after no one was able to dispute the facts, John Smith wrote about how she, the beautiful daughter of a powerful native leader, rescued him, an English adventurer, from being executed by her father, a great tale, but did Smith tell the truth, or did he just lift the tale from a popular Scottish ballad? the first version of many which was printed some 300 years or more before Smith penned his version, yes favourite Chiefs daughter saves foreign explorer from death was written about in 1300, or a few years before that date!

now, 400 years after her death, the story of the real Pocahontas is finally being accurately explored, in Smithsonian Channel’s new documentary Pocahontas: Beyond the Myth, premiering on March 27, authors, historians, curators and representatives from the Pamunkey tribe of Virginia, the descendants of Pocahontas, offer expert testimony as to how right or wrong we, Walt Disney included have been, it looks to be a great documentary which we, if available here in Thailand, we will be watching.