Pocahontas ( born Matoaka , known as Amonute , 1596 -- 1617 ) was a Native American woman notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown , Virginia . She became something of a celebrity , was elegantly fêted , and attended a masque at Whitehall Palace .
Pocahontas became, in her lifetime, a kind of celebrity and was noted in the context and culture she lived in.