Tsenacommacah
Powhatan Confederacy | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Late 16th c.–1677 | |||||||||||||||||||
The Powhatan Confederacy ca. 1607 | |||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Confederation | ||||||||||||||||||
| Capital | Werowocomoco, Powhatan (late 1500s–1609) Orapakes (1614–?) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Common languages | Powhatan | ||||||||||||||||||
| Religion | Native American religion | ||||||||||||||||||
| Mamanatowick | |||||||||||||||||||
• late 16th c.–1618 | Wahunsenacawh | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1618–1619 | Opichapum | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1619–1646 | Opchanacanough | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1646–1655 | Necotowance | ||||||||||||||||||
• 1646–1657 | Totopotomoi | ||||||||||||||||||
| Historical era | Early modern period | ||||||||||||||||||
• Wahunsenacawh creates the Powhatan Confederacy | Late 16th c. | ||||||||||||||||||
| 1610-1614 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1622-1626 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1644-1646 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1676 | |||||||||||||||||||
| 1677 | |||||||||||||||||||
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Tsenacommacah (pronounced /ˌsɛnəˈkɒməkə/ SEN-ə-KOM-ə-kə in English; also written Tscenocomoco, Tsenacomoco, Tenakomakah, Attanoughkomouck, and Attan-Akamik) is the name given by the Powhatan people to their native homeland, the area encompassing all of Tidewater Virginia and parts of the Eastern Shore. More precisely, its boundaries spanned 100 miles (160 km) by 100 miles (160 km) from near the south side of the mouth of the James River all the way north to the south end of the Potomac River and from the Eastern Shore west to about the Fall Line of the rivers.
The term Tsenacommacah comes from the Powhatan language, and means “densely inhabited land.”