How the Fall Line Shaped Powhatan's Empire

When humans first settled Virginia, the primary consideration of where to live was the availability of food. In the course of 10,000+ years of settlement, the different bands of hunter-gatherers must have experienced numerous disputes over which groups would harvest in what areas. Through competition and cooperation, different tribes established separate identities. One social or religious distinction can be seen clearly in the archeological evidence - the mound building culture of the Southwest and the Shenandoah Valley and the Blue Ridge did not extend into Tidewater.

By the time of European arrival, Native Americans in Virginia had split into three main linguistic groups - Algonquian in Tidewater, Siouan west of the Fall Line, with the Nottoways and Meherrins in Southeast Virginia speaking Iroquoian languages. The short time for human evolution in North America was not enough to establish physically-distinct races, as occurred in Africa/Asia/Europe, but separate languages are an excellent clue that Virginia was not a homogenous community when the strangers sailed in from the east.

In 1607, Powhatan's empire was limited to areas east of the Fall Line. His rivals, the Monacans and the Manahoacs, lived upstream.

Native Americans in Virginia, four centuries ago

Powhatan had initially inherited control of only about a half-dozen tribes near the Fall Line of the James and Pamunkey Rivers; he conquered 25 or so other Algonquian groups to establish his empire. Why did he conquer other Algonquian tribes to his east, rather than reach a simple alliance with them and focus on defeating the rivals with a different language upstream?

One likely factor - the other tribes in Tidewater controlled the protein-rich waters of the Chesapeake Bay estuary, with oysters, crabs, and fish in abundance during certain seasons of the year. By the time Christopher Newport led the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery to Jamestown Island, Powhatan dominated all of Tidewater Virginia. He controlled even the Eastern Shore, a long canoe ride across the Chesapeake Bay, while the nearby Piedmont in the west remained the edge of his control. Powhatan raided across the Fall Line, but never settled the area upstream of the Falls Line.

Those Siouan-speaking tribes in the Piedmont were not completely isolated from the Chesapeake's food resources. They had access to anadromous fish that were able to swim above the falls to spawn throughout the James River, York, and Rappahannock tributaries. (Great Falls on the Potomac River was an effective barrier to anadromous fish reaching areas west of Algonquian control.) The mature forests on the Piedmont also provided extensive nut crops (including chestnuts), and the flocks of passenger pigeons and other birds were a food resource based on the forests of the Piedmont.

Early residents at Jamestown relied upon Tidewater tribes to provide food during the critical early years. They bypassed Powhatan at times, trading with tribes on the Potomac where his authority was weak and he could not enforce his strategy of witholding food from the English. However, the early English explorations among the Manahoacs failed to establish a regular pattern of trade with any tribes above the Fall Line.

Why didn't the English trade with the Manahoacs?

In addition to the opposition of Powhatan, the logistics of shipping food were too cumbersome. There were no roads to the west, just footpaths - and to follow those, the English were dependent upon Native American guides. Meat and corn are bulky and heavy, and the English lacked horses or mules to serve as pack animals. [As late as 1700, most crops were still planted the Native American way, using a digging stick to "drill" a hole for placing seeds in the soil rather than plowing entire fields with a horse, mule, or ox.]

Fall Line - compare to Powhatan's western boundary

Links

• Geographic Regions of Virginia map, showing the Fall Line
• National Park Service - The Great Falls Park
• US Geological Survey- A Tapestry of Time and Terrain: Fall Line