Tsenacommacah

Tsenacommacah was the territory of the Powhatan empire, a confederacy of Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes. This confederacy occupied much of present-day tidewater Virginia and the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The empire was formed and named by the powerful chief Powhatan shortly before the English settlement of Jamestown in 1607. The tribes within the confederacy offered mutual military support and paid tribute to Powhatan in the form of food, pelts, copper, and pearls. Their villages, often fortified, were situated near fields where women cultivated crops like corn, beans, and squash, while men engaged in hunting and warfare. Hostilities between the Powhatan and English settlers led to intermittent fighting for many years.123