Is Powhatan's speech to John Smith Fiction?

Answer 1

There are many disputes over whether the claim that Powhatan, Chief of the native Powhatan tribe, made a speech to the early colonial Captain John Smith, who sailed from England to the now Virginia area of America, is historical truth, or fiction. There is such a speech, recorded in 1607, which also within that same record states the person whom the speech was made by, Powhatan, and whom the speech was written to: Smith. Though, in theory, the words of the speech are spoken right from the mouth of Powhatan and written and recorded honestly, many skeptics argue that the actual words spoken by Powhatan could have been manipulated and changed by the person or persons recording the speech, or altered by others after the event. Being a member of the native Powhatan tribe, Powhatan spoke his native tongue, and though he may have become familiar with some English, he was probably not fluent in it in any way, let alone well-spoken in the English language. Certain terminologies and phrases that are "spoken" by the chief actually seem toowell-spoken for a man with his knowledge and skill level of the English language. This implies that Powhatan's words may have been changed or, at the very least, tweaked, to form a more fluent, better sounding documented speech. However, with that said, the seemingly insignificant action of tweaking a few lines for the aesthetic purpose of literacy, may easily lead to less innocent acts of manipulation of Powhatan's words and perhaps a dishonest account of his speech.

In conclusion, Chief Powhatan more than likely did make the speech addressed to Captain Smith in 1607. However, there are likely-hoods that his speech was altered, perhaps to create a more elegant sounding monologue or for a more sinister agenda. History has has a strange way of hiding things, even from the most searching eye. There are some truths that we may never discover, or some discoveries that we may never know to be completely true.