10. She Was Married to a Tribal Man
When she was 14 years old, she went through a coming-of-age ceremony where she would be considered a woman. At this time, Native Americans can choose their own names, and she decided that she officially wanted to be named “Pocahontas” since it felt the most like her true self. After becoming a woman, she was married to a Powhatan man named Kocoum, who was the brother of one of the nearby village chiefs named Japasaw. In the Disney film, Kocoum is portrayed as being very serious, and not anything like what Pocahontas was looking for in a man. This is simply not true. While there is no record of their relationship, it is likely that as the popular daughter of the head chief, Pocahontas would have had her pick of potential male suitors.
Pocahontas moved to the village run by Chief Japasaw, where Kocuom lived, and they had a daughter together. At this point, she would have been fully prepared to start her life as a young mother in the Powhatan tribe. The village that she moved to was closer to Jamestown than where she grew up with her father. So, at this point, she may have interacted more with the settlers than she did when John Smith first arrived.