"Pocahontas" is the name commonly associated with historic Indigenous woman Matoaka (c. 1596-March 1617). Her name and (heavily altered) story were used for the Disney movie Pocahontas (1995) who makes rare appearances in the Disney Parks.
History[]
Background[]
Controversy[]
As was with Disney's creation of the movie Pocahontas, her appearing in the parks is controversial due to the story being based on the settler romanticization of historic Indigenous Powhatan child Matoaka/Pocahontas (c. 1596-March 1617) being abducated and enslaved by English settlers, with the Disney version also being given an aged-up sexualized design, being attributed with negative stereotypes of Native American women, and given a romance with one of the colonists who abducted and enslaved her as a child.
Appearances[]
Disney's Animal Kingdom[]
Pocahontas and her Forest Friends[]
Pocahontas was main character of this show.
Rafiki's Planet Watch[]
Pocahontas has sometimes appeared in this area which also has artwork of Grandmother Willow.
Fantasmic![]
Pocahontas used to be central character of a sequence in Disney's Hollywood Studios' version of Fantasmic before it was changed to Moana.
Frontierland[]
Pocahontas Indian Village[]
This Indigenous American themed play-area is named after the movie Pocahontas while using a pejorative/slur for her people in the name.
It's a Small World[]
Rivers of America[]
In the Magic Kingdom, the tribe which appeared along the rivers was implied to be the Powhatan tribe which Pocahontas belonged to, as a promotion for the movie.
Sorcerers of the Magic Kingdom[]
Pocahontas was Merlin and the guests' primary ally in Frontierland and Liberty Square.
