Talk:John Smith (explorer)

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"This dropping of historical context and fact dishonours those heroes among the European expedition. It dishonours Pocahontas. And worse, it abuses the modern child's potential for understanding the growing pains of Western Culture and the founding of America."

Uhh...thats very NPOV if I do say so myself. I'm deleting it.

-Mr. Tachyon

I assume something with a copyright date of 1899 is eligible to be included here? Still there's a lot of POV here and not much meat. -- Zoe

The POV-ness is due largely to the fact that the source seems to take Smith's memoirs at face value, whereas they are today believed to biggest source of baloney outside the Italian peninsula. -Smack 06:00 14 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Anything pre-1923 is in the Public Domain in the U.S. so this qualifies.

Just wanted to point out that in the Pocahontas definition she was 13 when she saved John Smith, and in this definition she was 11.

birth date

An anonymous IP was curious about Smith's birth date, apparently not noting that the years of birth and death were right after his name. I have removed their ALL CAPS COMMENT from the middle of the article, which is hopefully not a tact they will regularly follow. - DavidWBrooks 20:13, 3 November 2005 (UTC)

The currently shown death date for Smith is both wrong and inconsistent with the balance of the article, and while I am no historian, a number of internal dates in the article also do not match my history-class memory of events. Doc W 14:01, 14 October 2007 (UTC)

Baptism Date

• This and others say it happened on 9 January 1579.

• this, this and this say it happened on 9 January 1580.

• this says it happened on 6 January 1580.

The consensus seems to be 9 January rather than 6 January, but what do we make of the discrepancy between 1579 and 1580? - JackofOz (talk) 03:02, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

google on "john smith" born 1579, and "john smith" born 1580. You'll note that some comment that their sources state that it's around the end of 1579/beginning of 1580. Others just say 1579/1580. Baptism date is near birth date, but not the same (depending on circumstances, may be a few weeks later). The UNC page seems to have some reliable sources; the Britannia is least reliable. None of them are primary sources, but you might be able to find a reliable source quoting the baptism date using the hints that you've found so far. Tedickey (talk) 20:21, 7 January 2008 (UTC)

Proposed merger

I support this, although I don't see a great deal to salvage in John Smith (statesman). The Singing Badger 01:32, 4 January 2006 (UTC)

John Smith in film

What's up with this section? For a man who's been a character in American history and lore for nigh 400 years, that's a lot of space spent on a minor Disney film and its direct-to-video sequel. In addition it does not present a NPOV. -Acjelen 03:42, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Quite correct. I've trimmed it. - [User:DavidWBrooks|DavidWBrooks] 11:23, 12 July 2006 (UTC)

Beware of vandalism at this site.

"Smith fathered Pocahontas bastered son."

Huh? "Smith fathered Pocahontas bastered son." There is no evidence or citation to support this statement. I suggest this statement be removed until it is substantiated with facts. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 66.25.168.154 (talk) 21:42, 5 May 2007 (UTC).

Water Trail

[Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail]] should be included in the article.

US or UK spelling?

Recently, 86.136.175.11 (talk · contribs · WHOIS) changed the spelling in Christopher Newport, John Smith of Jamestown and John Rolfe from US to UK English. I've started a discussion on what national variety of English these articles should use at Talk:Christopher Newport#US or UK spelling?. Anyone who has an opinion is invited to join and help us work towards a consensus. —Josiah Rowe (talk • contribs) 19:30, 14 August 2007 (UTC)

Daily Press

This article was on the front cover of my newspaper Daily Press. It said students at school copy the text and use it on reports and stuff. That's not good Ryan Holloway 18:14, 23 October 2007 (UTC)

Cpt Smith & Pocahontas

Thay both present in pop culture than just the movie. For example Presley's song Fever which is few years older that the Disney movie (and more popular among adults :> ) Mar1u5z (talk) 08:36, 12 June 2008 (UTC)

POV

"Henry Brooks Adams, the pre-eminent Harvard historian of the second half of the 19th century, attempted to debunk Smith’s claims of heroism. He said that Smith’s recounting of the story of Pocahontas had been progressively embellished, made up of “falsehoods of an effrontery seldom equalled in modern times.” Although there is general consensus among historians that Smith tended to exaggerate, his account does seem to be consistent with the basic facts of his life. Adams' attack on Smith, an attempt to deface one of the icons of Southern history, was motivated by political considerations in the wake of the Civil War. Adams had been influenced to write his fusillade against Smith by John G. Palfrey who was promoting New England colonization, as opposed to southern settlement, as the founding of America."

This is all very biased without any attempt at documentation. Who claims it was politically motivated? Can we have a source? Who claims that his account is consistent with his life? This is all unsuitable as is.