Silverman: If John Smith's account, written in the 1620s, can be believed, Pocahontas was at the center of her father's decision to spare his life and then to set him up as a cultural broker ...

In Disney’s cartoon version of the story (and elsewhere), Pocahontas is shown to be involved romantically with an Englishman called Captain John Smith. He was real, but not her boyfriend.

The debate continues about whether "Pocahontas" truly saved John Smith, but we do know she never married him, as the film implies. She instead spent her short life, which ended in tragedy ...