The character is loosely based on the actual historical figure Pocahontas (1596–1617), the daughter of a Native American Tsenacommacah-paramount chief of the Powhatan paramountcy.

Following his directorial debut with The Rescuers Down Under (1990), Mike Gabriel happened upon an image of Pocahontas in a history book and decided that he wanted to pitch a film about her to Disney executives.

Feeling that he was not adept at drawing women, he went to the pitch meeting with a Xeroxed image of Tiger Lily from Peter Pan (1953) which he added animals to.

"[2] Inspired by William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet, the film's directors Mike Gabriel and Eric Goldberg wanted the story of Pocahontas to feature two characters of very different backgrounds falling in love.

The writers countered that Powhatan was polygamous and formed dynastic alliances among other neighboring tribes by impregnating a local woman and giving away the child, so it was believed that Pocahontas herself probably did not see her mother that much.

[8] Storyboard artist Joe Grant would conceive the idea of the swirling leaves to represent Pocahontas's mother.

[6] Keane also wanted Pocahontas to be written as a confident woman, unlike Ariel from The Little Mermaid (1989) or Belle from Beauty and the Beast (1991).

[11] The film's crew met with Ray Adams, the chairman of the United Indians of Virginia, and showed him ten minutes of unfinished animation and the song "Colors of the Wind" to see if they had portrayed Pocahontas in a way which would be more accurate to the Powhatan culture.

[13] Keane recalled meeting the women: So I turned around and there's this beautiful Indian woman walking up; a Native American.

[14]Other inspirations were Christy Turlington,[15] Natalie Belcon, Naomi Campbell, Jamie Pillow, white supermodel Kate Moss, Charmaine Craig, and Irene Bedard, who provided the character's speaking voice.

Keane told The New York Times that he deemed Taylor's contributions to the film unworthy of a screen credit.

"[10] Sophie Gilbert of The Atlantic opined that in creating the character "Disney had, for the first time, provided an independent and fearless heroine with a strong sense of self."

[3] MTV's Lauren Vino noted that Pocahontas is not a damsel in distress, as she saves Smith's life rather than vice versa.

Club's Caroline Siede said that the film "remains probably the most high profile story of a Native American in pop culture.

When, enraged, Governor Ratcliffe shoots at the chief, John Smith pushes Powhatan out of the way and takes the bullet instead.

Pocahontas, alongside other Disney Princesses, appeared in the 2018 film Ralph Breaks the Internet, with Bedard returning to voice her.

She and John Smith appear in the Disney Cruise Line stage show The Golden Mickeys, and is also known to come out for meet-and-greets on the ships.

Pocahontas, Meeko, and Flit also make cameo appearances in the Hong Kong Disneyland version of It's a Small World.

[25] The San Francisco Chronicle's Peter Stack praised the romance between Pocahontas and Smith, writing that "the film's isolation of the lovers – their secret meetings near a stream, their tentative but enchanted glances, their first kiss – is nothing short of captivating.

[32] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone dubbed her "Poca-bore-me" and bemoaned that she "is so busy trying to teach John about protecting the spirit of the land, she hardly has time for romance.