The Chesapeake Bay and the big rivers that feed into it have recently been seen as part of a much larger watershed encompassing six states and hundreds of counties. The Bay's ecology has suffered in the twentieth century, prompting the states that surround it to develop a regional compact to protect it. The Bay's history as a resource and a network for trade extend to Powhatan Society, however, and the Bay's history is marked by regional settlement patterns over hundreds of years.