John Smith

John Smith was a founder of Jamestown, England’s first permanent North American settlement. The accuracy of his famous claim that Pocahontas, pictured nearby, saved his life during his captivity by the Powhatan people in 1607 is dubious; Smith’s account likely misinterprets Pocahontas’s role in a Powhatan ritual. As president of the colony’s governing council from 1608 until 1609, Smith instituted policies that helped Jamestown survive inadequate provisions and disease. He later criticized the Virginia Company of London, which funded the venture, for putting profits over the colonists’ safety.
Smith briefly returned to North America in 1614 to explore the northeast region, which he named New England in the hopes of attracting English investment. In 1616, Smith published this portrait of himself in a tract promoting the region. Although the text refers to Smith as the “Admiral of New England,” his bid to lead colonization efforts in the area was ultimately unsuccessful.