Tsenacommacah (pronounced in English; also written Tscenocomoco, Tsenacomoco, Tenakomakah, Attanoughkomouck, and Attan-Akamik)David G. Sweet and Gary B. Nash: Struggle and Survival in Colonial America, University of California Press; New Edition (January 1982) is the country of the various Native American peoples who inhabit the modern-day Tidewater region of Virginia. The region is carved by a series of large rivers, such as the Pamunkey, Chickahominy, Potomac, Rappahanock and Powhatan rivers, with large peninsulas nestled between them alongside extensive wetlands. The region today is part of the United States alongside six federally recognized Native American tribes: Chickahominy Indian Tribe, Chickahominy Indian Tribe–Eastern Division, Nansemond Indian Nation, Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Rappahannock Tribe and Upper Mattaponi Tribe.
Name Tsenacommacah is translated variously, including as “Land that was dwelt upon closely together” or “a nearby dwelling-place.” The word Tsenacommacah includes a word for a house.
Geography
Tsenacommacah encompasses what is now also considered the Atlantic Plain and Tidewater of Virginia. It is centered on the Powhatan (James) and Pamunkey (York) rivers. It also includes the Potomac River, whose name is translated as meaning, "To bring again they go and come," a reference to trade in the region The rivers of Tsenacommacah are lined by extensive wetlands. Many of the Native placenames in the region are from the point of view of traveling by canoe as they often reference canoeing, fishing and gathering wetland plants. Tsenacommacah's northern bound is the Potomac River, the western boundary is the fall line and the eastern boundary is the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean. Its southern extent includes the south shore of the James River, its mouth and a bit further along the coast, going as far inland as the Great Dismal Swamp.
The region has many animals, including poisonous snakes, squirrels, rabbits, opossums, raccoons, foxes, beavers, bears, wolves and lynx. The forests are predominantly oak, hickory, pine and chestnut trees. Tsenacommacah had their own kinds of dogs precontact, which are smaller than European dogs and have now gone extinct. The coastlines are filled with sturgeon, striped bass, menhaden, white perch, eels, crabs, oysters, mussels, shells and clams. The rivers are wide enough to allow dangerous wave action during thunder squalls so dangerous that it sometimes threatens container ships.
During his captivity, John Smith witnessed a ceremony that possibly described Tsenacommacah. His captors surrounded a fire with inner rings of cornmeal and outer rings of corn kernels. Smith viewed this as a largely geographic depiction of Tsenacommacah, seeing the corn kernels as the Chesapeake Bay shore, the fire as Werowocomoco and the sticks as him and his fellow settlers. Current scholars interpret the ritual as a way of placing Smith and the other settlers in the periphery of Tsenacommacah's kinship circles. Tsenacommacah's shape is also defined by its web of kinship relations throughout the country.
Tsenacommacah historically included many independent polities such as the Powhatan Confederacy, Chesapeake, Patawomeck and Chickahominy. The Tsenacommacans considered the English settlers, Tassantasses, roughly meaning strangers. Gallivan describes Tsenacommacah as heterarchical rather than a classical chiefdom as there was no single center of power instead, systems were flexible and adapted to circumstances with multiple power players.
History
Early history Tsenacommacah has its origins in the early fishing and gathering nations that had lived there for millennia, as evidenced by many of the region's place names evoking canoe travel, fishing and the harvest of wetland plants. Before 1000 BC, most settlements in Tsenacommacah were in high-elevation inland locations rather than along rivers. Varina pottery began being made in the region around 1200 BC. It was made using both S- and Z-twists and was tempered with sand and stone. Finishing involved the use of cord-marked or, less often, net-impressed surface treatments. Varina pottery involves a wide variety of distinct ceramic-making traditions and is far from a homogeneous block. According to archaeology, the Algonquian languages of the region may have arrived around the year 200, when a wave of newcomers mixed with locals.
Mockley pottery began to be made around 200 AD and was tempered with crushed shells using S-twists exclusively. Mockley and Varina pottery were made by different communities, not the same group of people. The overlapping distribution of Mockley and Varina ceramics from 200 to 600 AD implies overlapping kinship networks between the different peoples of Tsenacommacah. During this period, Mockley ceramics are largely found in riverine villages, often with shell middens, while Varina ceramics are found in small settlements scattered throughout the country. Shell middens from places with Mockley ceramics often include clam shells, oyster shells, migratory fish and elaborate pottery likely used for feasting. Places where Varina pottery is more common were largely small and temporary communities, relying on deer and nuts for food. Sites associated with either Varina or Mockley ceramics also had distinct projectile points. The peoples of the region were specialized into fishers and foragers who likely gifted food back and forth across communities in accordance with their niche.
The end of the making of Varina pottery correlates with a local warm period and expanding wetlands. This same warm period correlates with a spike in shell consumption, which then fell with the introduction of agriculture around 1000 AD, only to slowly rise again up until contact. The sizes of the oysters fell with increased consumption and rose when consumption lessened. Abbott zone-decorated ceramics show up rarely in Tsenacommacah and were used for special occasions when different groups came together for feasting, gifting and ceremony. It is likely that Abbott zone-decorated ceramics and Mockley ceramics coincide with the arrivals of Algonquian-speaking peoples to Tsenacommacah and the broader East Coast.
The earliest known dates for maize agriculture are around 1100 AD, while beans show up later, around 1450 AD. Agricultural consumption was spiking in the decades before the founding of the English colonial settlement of Jamestown. Agricultural towns were usually placed on hills near rivers with strong tides and freshwater springs. Towns would have up to 100 houses, each with 2 to 20 residents. Houses (Yihakin) were built from frames of tree saplings with woven mats for the exterior, which were surrounded by agricultural fields and, further afield, large open clearings. Economic transactions were conducted in a gift economy. For example, in 1608, Wahunsenacawh refused to barter with the English, insisting their goods all be laid out in front of him so he could reciprocate their gifts. There may have been moieties or clans but evidence for or against is rare and hard to parse.
By contact with the English, Tsenacommacah had for centuries been governed by various independent Weroances who levied taxes, raised armies and inherited their political offices through the matriline. Political alliances and agreements were forged through the gifting of important goods such as deerskins, beads (especially the rare blue beads), copper, maize and pearls alongside marriages between prominent families. In these interactions, there were a variety of customary diplomatic procedures whenever a given weroancy hosted people from other polities. In domestic politics, shamans and priests (called Quioccosuks or Quiakros meaning 'the just' or 'the upright ones') were vital advisors and held veto power over decisions in council. The various nations of Tsenacommacah had Quicosin, which the English described as 'temples,' that were run by the Quiakros. The Quicosin held sacred items such as the bodies of deceased Weroances and were surrounded by palisades to protect the building from physical and spiritual threats. September through November were reserved for feasts and religious rituals conducted by the local Weroance and the Quiakros.
In 1570-1571, the Spanish Empire briefly established a Jesuit mission colony likely near the Kiskiack, which was attacked and destroyed by an army led by Paquinquineo. Various nations living in Tsenacommacah at the time includes the Powhatan, Chesapeake, Nansemond, Kecoughtan, Warraskoyack, Quiyoughcohannock, Paspahegh, Weyanoke, Appomattoc, Arrohattoc, Chickahominy, Pamunkey, Kiskiack, Mattaponi, Youghtanund, Lower Cuttatawomen, Moraughtachund, Rappahannock, Nantaughtacund, Upper Cuttatawomen, Wicocomico, Sekakawon, Onawmanient and Patawomeck. The Pamunkey hosted a sacred site on a hill near Uttamussak, with three Quicosin that could only be directly visited by Weroances. Ordinary Tsenacommacahs would leave offerings in the rivers to the local spirits.
Powhatan Confederacy
The Confederacy began with Wahunsenacawh's mother, from whom he inherited six tribes: Powhatan, Arrohattoc, Appomattoc, Pamunkey, Youghtanund, and Mattaponi. He governed much of Tsenacommacah through gifting, conquest and alliances. The Powhatan Confederacy at its peak had around 30 affiliated tribes. The Confederacy faced threats from the mountains and the piedmont, where Monacans, Massawomecks and Manahoacs raided the polities in the Atlantic plain. The Monacans specifically were an important middleman for the trade of copper coming from the Blue Ridge Mountains or the Great Lakes. The Meherrin, Nottoway and Tuscarora further south were friendly with the Powhatan Confederacy and traded extensively with them. In the north, the Patawomeck were allied with the nearby Piscataway Confederacy. Based on John Smith's estimates around 1610, Tsenacommacah had approximately 15,000 people.
In 1607, the English Empire built Jamestown in the heart of the Tsenacommacah and soon after built James Fort nearby. The initial English settlers at Jamestown described Tsenacommacah to the people in their home country in largely commercial terms. They depicted it as a land where one could live as a land-owning noble, hunting, fishing and riding horses as leisure. Colonists hoped to seize control of the local polities similarly to how the Spanish Empire had in Mesoamerica and the Andes by appropriating local power structures. Wahunsenacawh had John Smith kidnapped and brought to Werowocomoco. Wahunsenacawh asked why John Smith had come to his country. Smith lied, saying that he was fleeing the Spanish and bad weather, with his mission being to avenge one of the colonists who got killed by Monacans. Wahunsenacawh insisted he would provide for the colonists as long as he received coppers and hatchets in return. He also told them to settle closer to Werowocomoco. Smith also tells a dubious story where Pocahontas saved him from a threatened execution and two days later he was adopted as Wahunsenacawh's son.
In 1608, colonist Christopher Newport attempted to crown the Mamanatowick of the Powhatan Confederacy to induct him into the English legal system and make him subordinate to the English crown. The Mamanatowick, Wahunsenacawh (commonly known as Chief Powhatan), refused this gesture. Lauren Working argues Wahunsenacawh may have responded in turn by gifting the English a deerskin map showing their place within Tsenacommacah's legal order, likely visually similar to what's known as Powhatan's Mantle. In the earliest years of James Fort, archaeological evidence shows Tsenacommacan pottery, grinding stones, dogs, arrows and housing construction starting in James Fort, likely due to Tsenacommacan presence in the fort. Settlers also started adopting native houses as they were better able to withstand storms and heat.