Pocahontas: The true story behind the Disney movie

Disney's animated classic Pocahontas captivated audiences with its stunning visuals and memorable music when it was released in 1995.

With a budget of $55m, the film — directed by Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg — grossed more than $346m worldwide, and was widely praised by critics as another musical hit for the animation studio.

Read more: How Disney first began

Based on the story a real historical figure who played a pivotal role in early US history — Disney's Pocahontas was voiced by Irene Bedard, while her singing voice was provided by singer Judy Kuhn.

Her real-life counterpart's life was marked by her desire to fight for her people's rights, her acceptance of Christianity, and a new life that saw her adopt a new Anglicised name and start a family.

Here we take a look at who the real Pocahontas was, a story of heartbreak and resilience.

Matoaka, daughter of a chief

Pocahontas was born in 1596 in the Tidewater region of present-day Virginia and was originally named Amonute but also known as Matoaka, meaning ‘lower between two streams’.

She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, a group of Algonquian-speaking tribes in Virginia.

Her nickname, Pocahontas, meant"playful one" or "mischievous one".

In 1607, English settlers established Jamestown, Virginia, which is when Pocahontas first came into contact with them.

Were John Smith and Pocahontas lovers?

Disney's version of Pocahontas' encounter with John Smith and her saving of his life is far more romanticised than reality.

Smith was born in Lincolnshire and was an English soldier and explorer who led on the founding of Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in North America.

He claimed in 1608 to have had his life saved by Pocahontas.

According to historian Camilla Townsend, author of Pocahontas and the Powhatan Dilemma, from her readings of Smith's notes, he was captured by Native Americans not long after he arrived in the US, and it during that period that he spent time with Pocahontas.

In his notes, there are sentences like "Tell Pocahontas to bring me three baskets" or "Pocahontas has many white beads" – one in English, the other in an Algonquian language, helping to understand their lives better.

But, unlike Disney's version of the story, Pocahontas and Smith did not have any romantic involvement according to several sources and The Indigenous Foundation, a campaign organisation fighting for the rights of indigenous people across the Turtle Island in North America.

Abuse, kidnap and loss

The foundation reports that 27-year-old Smith arrived in Pocahontas' town when she was just a child of around nine or 10. He was known to enter Indigenous villages, hold chiefs at gunpoint, and demand food and supplies. In Disney's film Pocahontas is 18.

English colonisers targeted women and young children, often leading to sexual assaults on Indigenous girls. Pocahontas herself faced the threat of kidnapping, especially as she was the chief's daughter. When she was 15 or 16 years old, Pocahontas was kidnapped and forced to part with her first child.

In one article, Meera Baswan quotes Indian Country Today which reports that Pocahontas's husband, Kocoum, was killed during her kidnapping in 1613.

English colonist Captain Samuel Argall is said to have played a role in her abduction.

He reportedly sought to use Pocahontas, the daughter of the chief, as a means to prevent attacks from certain Indigenous tribes and is thought to have made promises to the chief about her temporary absence, which he quickly broke.

Pocahontas marries John Rolfe

Following her capture, Pocahontas was taken to Jamestown and later to a small English settlement called Henrico, near present-day Richmond.

Her father, Powhatan, agreed to negotiate with the English to secure her release.

It was during this time that Pocahontas was under the care of Reverend Alexander Whitaker, and was taught English and about Christianity and English customs.

Pocahontas also met John Rolfe, a widower known for introducing tobacco as a cash crop to Virginia.

Pocahontas becomes Lady Rebecca

In 1614, Pocahontas converted to Christianity and was baptised as Rebecca.

She married John Rolfe in April of that year, resulting in a period known as the Peace of Pocahontas, referring to the lull in conflicts between the English and Powhatan Indians.

The Virginia Company of London, which had financed Jamestown's settlement, saw Pocahontas as an opportunity to promote interest in the territory.

In 1615 Pocahontas gave birth to her son Thomas and a year later, the Rolfe family travelled to England, with their expenses covered by the Virginia Company.

Pocahontas, now known as Lady Rebecca Rolfe, toured the country and even attended an event with King James I and Queen Anne.

They eventually settled in rural Brentford.

Pocahontas's death

In March 1617, the Rolfe family got ready to go back to Virginia, but while sailing down the Thames River, Pocahontas became seriously ill, and they had to land in Gravesend, Kent.

Pocahontas died from an illness aged just 21, which some historians think might have been due to pneumonia or dysentery.

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Pocahontas was laid to rest at St George's Church on 21 March, 1617. Rolfe returned to Virginia, but he left their young son, Thomas, with family in England.

Within a year, Powhatan also passed away, and the peace that Pocahontas had helped maintain started to fall apart.

Disney's Savages song controversy

The conflict between the English and the Native Americans was highlighted in the Disney song Savages – which as the Powhatan tribe prepared to defend themselves against the English colonisers led by John Ratcliffe.

Both groups sing in separate battle cries, with Ratcliffe's group thinking the Native Americans are evil, and Chief Powhatan's group believing the settlers are demons driven by greed.

Irene Bedard, the actress who voiced Pocahontas, initially had mixed feelings about the song when the movie was released in 1995. She found the use of the word "savages" troubling.

Some critics also thought the song was heavy-handed and not suitable for a children's animated film.

Bedard even wrote a one-woman play addressing these issues but later came to see the song in a different light, as it highlights how both sides saw each other as "less than".

Pocahontas's legacy

A bronze statue of Pocahontas stands by the Church of St George in Gravesend a tribute in honour of the final resting place of the extraordinary life of an Indigenous woman.

Of her son Thomas, Encyclopedia Virginia reports he never joined the Virginia colony’s elite, he died in 1681, place unknown.

Before 1853, the state of Virginia state kept no consistent records of births, marriages, and deaths, and no part of a Thomas Rolfe–descended genealogy was written down until the 1820s.

Read more: Disney legend says they could never remake Pocahontas

In 2023, Sky reported that records revealed actor Edward Norton as being a direct descendant of Pocahontas – as his 12th great-grandmother.

Her story was also retold in Terrence Malick's 2005 epic The New World, which stripped away "all the fancy and lore from the story of Pocahontas", according to one film critic.

Staring Christian Bale as John Rolfe, Colin Firth as Captain John Smith and Q'orianka Kilcher as Pocahontas, the film was nominated for an Oscar and won several other awards.

Whether Pocahontas played a role in promoting the interests of the Virginia Company or fighting for her people, she undeniably has an important place in US history, though her story is often misunderstood.

Pocahontas is streaming on Disney+.

Watch: Disney's Pocahontas versus the real Pocahontas in Virgina