I went to visit St George's Church in gravesend with some Brazilian friends. They couldn't believe she actually existed and were very excited to go there. There is a statue to her in the graveyard. She grew up near Jamestown, Virginia, the first British settlement in North America and grew friends with the settlers there. She married John Rolfe, a tobacco planter and was introduced to the court of King James and Queen Anne in 1616. Queen Anne took a liking to her. Pocahontas visited Greenwich and appears in the ceiling of the Painted Hall as a representative of the Americas. She converted to Christianity and took on the name of Rebecca. In 1617 she set off to return to Jamestown but was taken ill and died either on board the ship or at Gravesend. She is thought to have been buried next to the church's chancel, but nobody is sure exactly where she lies. Jamestown is now an archeological site. It stands near the 77 degrees west of Greenwich meridian line. John Dee identified this line as the place where the spring equinox always occurred on the 21st March, which was important for the calculating the date of Easter. It's know as God's Meridian. A number of important places stand on it, including Washington. Most have a strong British connection.
