The Algonquian-speaking tribes in Virginia are often treated as if they were all part of Powhatan's "empire." Between the time the Spanish arrived in 1570 and the English came to stay
in 1607, Powhatan established his empire over tribes east of the Fall Line. He had inherited control (from his mother rather than his father, in accord with his cultural tradition) of just four tribes, but conquered another 30 and exerted control over nearly all Algonquian-speaking Native Americans in Virginia when the Godspeed, Discovery, and Susan Constant sailed between the capes at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.
Those Algonquian-speaking tribes were all located east of the Fall Line. Powhatan ruled between the Falls of the James (today the site of Richmond) and the Atlantic Ocean. Powhatan dominated those on the Eastern Shore, which could be reached only by canoe until the Europeans brought a new technology - sailing ships. Powhatan's power extended south to the Blackwater River and today's Virginia Beach, and north to Potomac and Aquia Creeks.
North of the Rappahannock, his control was weak. The Potomack tribe, who lived at the mouth of Aquia Creek, actually sold Powhatan's daughter Pocahontas to the English. She had been in the area ensuring the corn tax would be paid to her father, but ended up instead as a captive (sold for a copper kettle). Further north, Powhatan claimed no power. Instead, he tried to block the English from dealing with those tribes outside his control. the Algonquian-speaking Taux (Doeg's) were allied to Piscataway and other Maryland tribes, and the capital of their leader or "tyac" was located in Maryland.
Many of the place names of Virginia are based on the place names used by the Algonquian tribes, such as Chesapeake and Occoquan and Accomack. Such names are common east of the Fall Line, but tribes belonging to the Siouan and Iroquioian linguistic groups dominated the area west of the Fall Line.