Pamunkey most powerful. Powhatan and his daughter Matoaka (Pocahontas), who achieved historical fame, were Pamunkey Native Americans. Captain Samuel Argall abducted her as a hostage in an attempt to secure the release of some English prisoners and ammunitions held by her father. Initial contact with Europeans was around 1570. "And from [1570] on at ever briefer intervals until the first permanent English colony was established at Jamestown in 1607, the Powhatan Confederacy was visited by white men: Spanish, French, and English." (Barbour, 5). Scholars estimate that when the English arrived in 1607, this paramount chiefdom numbered about 14,000–21,000 people. Colonists of
John Palmer (Master of Magdalene College) John Palmer (Master of Magdalene College) John Palmer (died June 1607) was an English clergyman and academic who was Master of Magdalene from 1597 to 1604, but died in a debtors' prison. Palmer was of Kent. He matriculated at St John's College, Cambridge in Autumn 1567. He was awarded BA in 1572 and became a Fellow in 1573. He was awarded MA in 1675. In 1580 he was incorporated at Oxford University. He was Proctor of his college from 1587 to 1588. He was awarded DD in 1595. From 1595 to 1604 he was Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge. He