Pamunkey

Pamunkey
Pamunkey Indian Reservation Emblem
Total population
Enrolled members: 430
Regions with significant populations
 United States ( Virginia)
Languages
English, formerly Powhatan
Religion
Christianity; Indigenous
Related ethnic groups
Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Patawomeck

The Pamunkey Indian Tribe is one of 11 Virginia Indian[1] tribal governments recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the state's first federally recognized tribe,[2][3] receiving its status in January 2016.[4] Six other Virginia tribal governments, the Chickahominy, the Eastern Chickahominy, the Upper Mattaponi, the Rappahannock, the Monacan, and the Nansemond, were similarly recognized through the passage of the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017 on January 12, 2018.[5] The historical people were part of the Powhatan paramountcy, made up of Algonquian-speaking nations. The Powhatan paramount chiefdom was made up of over 30 nations, estimated to total about 10,000–15,000 people at the time the English arrived in 1607.[6] The Pamunkey nation made up about one-tenth to one-fifteenth of the total, as they numbered about 1,000 persons in 1607.[7]

When the English arrived, the Pamunkey were one of the most powerful groups of the Powhatan chiefdom. They inhabited the coastal tidewater of Virginia on the north side of the James River near Chesapeake Bay.[8][9]

The Pamunkey Tribe is one of only two that retain the reservation lands assigned by the 1646 and 1677 treaties with the English colonial government.[10] The Pamunkey reservation is located on some of its ancestral land on the Pamunkey River adjacent to present-day King William County, Virginia. The Mattaponi reservation, the only other in the state, is nearby on the Mattaponi River.[10]

  1. ^ "Writer's Guide" Archived February 24, 2012, at the Wayback Machine, Virginia Council on Indians, Commonwealth of Virginia, 2009
  2. ^ Woodrow, John (2012-12-14). "A renowned Virginia Indian tribe finally wins federal recognition". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
  3. ^ "Governor – Newsroom". Governor.virginia.gov. 2015-07-02. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
  4. ^ Federal Register; Vol. 81, No. 86; Wednesday, May 4, 2016; Notices, p. 26827: "The addition to the list of Indian entities results from the January 28, 2016, Interior Board of Indian Appeals dismissal of a request for reconsideration in docket number 16–003, In Re Federal Acknowledgment of the Pamunkey Indian Tribe."
  5. ^ "Bill passes to give 6 Va. Native American tribes federal recognition". WTVR. 12 January 2018.
  6. ^ Rountree, Helen C. and E. Randolph Turner III. Before and After Jamestown: Virginia's Powhatans and Their Predecessors. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2002.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference autogenerated6 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Egloff, Keith and Deborah Woodward. First People: The Early Indians of Virginia. Charlottesville: The University Press of Virginia, 1992.
  9. ^ Waugaman, Sandra F. and Danielle-Moretti-Langholtz, Ph.D. We're Still Here: Contemporary Virginia Indians Tell Their Stories. Richmond: Palari Publishing, 2006 (revised edition).
  10. ^ a b Wood, Karenne (editor). The Virginia Indian Heritage Trail, 2007.