Pamunkey

The Pamunkey were among the most powerful peoples of the Powhatan Confederacy, whose towns occupied the river country of Virginia's coastal plain. Their homeland included the banks of the Pamunkey River, where fishing and farming sustained their communities. At the arrival of the English in 1607, the confederacy united many peoples under Powhatan and their own local leaders.

As English settlement expanded, Powhatan's successor Opechancanough led attacks on the colony in 1622 and 1644. After his capture and death, a treaty in 1646 imposed boundaries and tribute on the surviving communities. The Pamunkey leader Cockacoeske, who had opposed the rebel Nathaniel Bacon, signed the Treaty of Middle Plantation in 1677, following his rebellion. Though colonial pressure continued, the Pamunkey retained land on their river under the treaties.