From Matoaka to Lady Rebecca: The Story of Pocahontas.

Disney film adaptations are always loaded with the unmistakable magic that traps us. 1995 debuts Pocahontas , the story of an American Indian, with a free and adventurous spirit that ends questioning whether doing the right thing and follow your heart. In this adaptation, Pocahontas has a love interest for John Smith , an English colonizer. The film outlines in a general way the conflict between the Indigenous Tribes and the Colonizers, in the middle of the love story that develops in this story. For many it is an excellent story of Princesses and Knights, but the truth is that Pocahontas really existed.

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For the time of 1595 Matoaka was born, in Virginia, U.S.A. daughter of the leader of the Tribe Powhatan . In 1607 107 settlers arrived from England, among them Captain John Smith. They built a fort and an English colony very close to the tribes of this location.

John Smith is taken into captivity by the Powhatan to be executed, but saved by the daughter of the leader of the tribe. This was not the only time John was saved from an imminent death by Matoaka. The 11 year old girl and Captain Smith developed a friendship, but an injury caused by an explosion forced him to return to England. The version that was told to Matoaka is that he had died in the hands of pirates.

Matoaka is taken as a hostage and was a bargaining chip so that the colonists could obtain weapons, and rescue some of the English prisoners held by the indigenous tribes. He learned English and about Christianity and baptized under the name Rebecca. Although she was able to return to her tribe, she did not want to go back to her father because she claimed that she was not valued, and decided to stay with the English.

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Rebecca married John Rolfe, a widowed merchant snuff in Virginia. In this relationship they conceived a boy named Thomas. Lady Rebbeca (name she acquired after having married Rolfe) was the first native Indian to be baptized into Christianity.

Lady Rebbecca and John Rolfe traveled to England in order to attract new investments to the new world, in their stay, Rebbecca discovered that John Smith was still alive, despite this the relationship between the two did not re-emerge. Lady Rebbecca died of a strange disease at the age of 21 and John Smith dies 14 years later.

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Few are the similarities that this woman's story has with the film adaptation of Disney , but the truth is that they managed to capture the courage and strength of this Native American.

Pocahontas is one of my favorite Disney characters, for his spirituality, great sense of freedom, strength, courage and audacity.