The paramount chiefdom of the Powhatan numbered more than 30 tribes by the time the English arrived and settled Jamestown in 1607.

[9] According to archaeologists, indigenous peoples of successive cultures have been living in the area now called Virginia for as long as 15,000 years.

The numerous tribes belonged to three language groups: Algonquian along the coast and in the Tidewater, Siouan in the central area and Piedmont, and Iroquoian generally in the backcountry and to the north.

Historians believe Bacon had a personal rivalry with Governor Sir William Berkeley, though there were other causes of the rebellion.

Continued tensions and raids by other local Virginia tribes gave Bacon and his followers a scapegoat in which to take out their frustrations.

It reconfirmed the annual tribute payments and added the Siouan and Iroquoian tribes as Tributary Indians of the colonial government.

[6] The Mattaponi and Pamunkey tribes have continued to provide the state, the successor to the colony, with the annual tribute payment stipulated by the treaties of 1646 and 1677.

It was an attempt by colonial governments of New York and Virginia to end the wars between the Iroquois and southern tribes.

Colonists encroached on tribal land during that time period, as recorded by a Baptist missionary who worked with the Tribe in the 18th century.

At about the same time, the historian Henry Howe reported two Indian groups living in King William County, the Pamunkey and the Mattaponi.

For its part, the Mattaponi Tribe adopted bylaws for its governance and established a school on its reservation.

During the 20th century, the Mattaponi Tribe and its reservation have been repeatedly acknowledged by the Commonwealth's Governors and Attorneys General.

The tribe has a traditional government, the Mattaponi Tribal Council, which controls the affairs of the reservation.

It holds the land in common but assigns plots for members' use, settles internal disputes, maintains tribal property, and protects the interests of the Mattaponi Tribe in relationships with local, state, and federal governments.

It maintains its obligations under the Treaty of Middle Plantation of 1677 by giving annual tribute to the Governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

[15] In 1942 the Upper Mattaponi built the Indian View Baptist Church, the heart of their faith community.

[14] In January 2022, the Upper Mattaponi Tribe purchased its first official unit of tribal housing, located in Central Garage, Virginia.

[16] Mollie Holmes Adams, named one of the Virginia Women in History for 2010, was a member of the Upper Mattaponi Tribe.