Opossunoquonuske | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Unknown |
| Disappeared | 1610 |
| Died | 1610 |
| Other names | Oppussoquionuske or Opposunoquonuske |
| Family | Opechancanough (Brother) |
Opossunoquonuske (variant forms: Oppussoquionuske or Opposunoquonuske) (birthdate unknown – 1610) was a Weroansqua of an Appomattoc town near the mouth of the Appomattox River.[1] Weroansqua (or Weroance) is an Algonquian word meaning leader or commander among the Powhatan confederacy of Virginia coast and Chesapeake Bay region. She was known as the queen of Appamatuck, The community she led was large enough to provide an estimated twenty warriors to the Powhatan Confederacy.
Native women leaders appear in numerous colonial records, and Opossunoquonuske is among that list. Just as Hernando de Soto met a woman he called the Lady of Cofitachequi, John Smith mentions Opossunoquonuske, “Queen of Appomattoc” Even as colonization curtailed more direct forms of political and military leadership for women, later records attest to the ways in which many Native women maintained sociocultural authority.[2]
- ^ "Library of Virginia | Virginia.gov". www.virginia.gov. Retrieved 2023-01-05.
- ^ Rountree, Helen C. (2006). Pocahontas, Powhatan, Opechancanough : three Indian lives changed by Jamestown. University of Virginia Press. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-8139-2596-7. OCLC 1014447597.