The General History of Virginia was written in 1624, by Captain John Smith. This particular account was combined from previous materials Smith had written. The General History of Virginia was specifically written to epitomize the history of the American colonies. John Smith wrote The General History of Virginia to provide details for future colonist. Captain Smith became one of the first writers to discuss self-creation, practicality, and cultural contact (Barbour).
Captain John Smith had a very popular military background that lead English settlers to become interested in him. Captain Smith was one of the original members of the council but he sought out to provide more for the first English settlement. Smith portrayed self-creation in a couple different ways. Originally, the colony was governed by a council of seven men, and Captain Smith had been named by the Virginia Company to serve on this council
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Smith focuses heavily on Native Americans in all of his works concerning the New World. Smith's relationship with the Powhatan Native Americans is the sole factor that saved the Jamestown colony from sharing the fate of the Roanoke colony. His relations with the Native Americans were very wise in that. At one point in the story the Powhatan’s considered Smith as a friend even though he believed them to be more “like a devil than a man” (Nina Baym. Robert Levine). Another example of cultural contact would be when Pocahontas reached out to Captain Smith to give him assistance, the book stated that “when no entreaty could prevail, she got his head in her arms and laid her own upon his to save him from death” (Nina Baym. Robert Levine). The way that Captain Smith depicts the accounts between him and Pocahontas are said to be different. Smith believes that he was simply just rescued, but in the eyes of the Powhatan it was the ritual of death and rebirth as a member of the tribe