Chowanoc[1]
16th-century territories
of the North Carolina Algonquian
Total population
extinct[2] (1820)
Regions with significant populations
North Carolina
Languages
Algonquian
Religion
Tribal religion
Related ethnic groups
Coree, Machapunga, Weapemeoc

The Chowanoc,[1] also Chowanoke, are an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe who historically lived near the Chowan River in North Carolina.[2]

At the time of the first English contact in 1580s, they were a large and influential tribe and remained so through the mid-17th century.[2]

After warfare, in 1677 English colonists set aside a reservation for the tribe near Bennett Creek. The Chowanoc suffered high mortality due to infectious disease, including a smallpox epidemic in 1696.

Descendants of the Chowanoc merged with the Tuscarora in the early 18th century.[2]

Name

The name Chowanoc has also been spelled Chawanook, Chowanock, Chowanoke, and Chawwonock. They are also known as the Chowanoc Confederacy.[1] Their name is Algonquian and translates as "they of the south" or "southerners".[3]

Territory

1585 map by Theodor de Bry with Chawanook territory in the right, top (east).

The Chowanoc had settlements from north of the confluence of the Chowan and Meherrin Rivers to the mouth of the Chowan River. Smaller towns were likely built along Bennett Creek and tributaries of the Meherrin and Wiccacon Rivers.[1]

Archaeology

Archaeologists explored the primary town also called Chowanoc in the 1980s and found that it was settled in the 10th century CE.[1]

History

16th century

About 1,200 to 2,500[1] Chowanoc lived near the Chowan River, near the Nottoway and Meherrin rivers, when English colonists arrived in 1584, and they were most populous tribe in their region.[3][2] Colonial Governor Ralph Lane encountered the tribe when they were led by the elderly Chief Menatonon (fl. 1580s).[1] Lane's took Menatonon's son Skiko hostage to force the chief to assist English colonists in their efforts to cultivate positive relationships with neighbor tribes.[2][1]

Their villages included Maraton, Ramushonok, and Obanoak, and likely also included Metocaum and Catoking.[3]

English mathematician and cartographer Thomas Harriot recorded that the Chowanoc had 18 villages.[1] Harriot estimated that the tribe could mobilize 700 or 800 warriors in a battle.[1] Lane described this town as being large enough to muster 700 to 800 warriors, which meant the capital's population was likely more than 2,100. Theodor de Bry's 1590 map sited five of the tribe's villages on the river of their name.[4]

17th century

Wetlands along the Chowan swamp

In 1607 an English colonial expedition, in the area on orders from Captain John Smith of Jamestown, found that hardly any Chowanoc people were left along the Chowan River. They had been reduced to one settlement across the river in Gates County on [[Bennett Creek.

In 1607 an English colonial expedition, in the area on orders from Captain John Smith of Jamestown, found that few Chowanoc people were left along the Chowan River. They had been reduced to one settlement across the river in Gates County on Bennett Creek.

The Chowanoc maintained a large population through 1650.[2] More English colonists settled near the Albemarle Sound and signed a peace treaty with the Chowanoc in 1663. However, the tribe breached the peace by entering the Susquehannah War.[2] Several decades later, in 1644 and 1675–77, the Chowanoc had regained sufficient strength to wage two wars against English settlers. They met defeat each time.

After these wars, in 1677 the settlers forced the Chowanoc to cede most of their territory and move to an Indian reservation on Bennett's Creek.[2] It consisted of 11,360 acres.[5]

[Infectious diseases]] transmitted by contact with European explorers and colonists, such as measles and smallpox, likely caused high fatalities and considerably weakened the Chowanoc, as took place with other coastal Carolina Algonquian peoples. None had natural immunity to such new diseases, which had been endemic among Europeans for centuries.

18th century

By 1701, their population had been reduced to a single village, located on the Bennetts Creek.[3]

The Chowanocs fought with the English against the Tuscarora in the Tuscarora War from 1711 to 1713.[2] They were devastated, and English people had encroached upon their lands by 1718.[2] Around 1723, the surviving Chowanoc and Tuscorara shared a 53,000-acre reservation,[2] located on Bennetts and Catherine creeks.[3] Their population declined, and survivors merged into the Tuscarora by 1733.[2]

19th century

Historian Joseph Norman Heard wrote, "They were extinct by 1820."[2]

Heritage group

In the early 21st century, people who claimed Chowanoc ancestry in the Bennett's Creek area formed an organization called the Chowanoke Indian Nation. Although they use nation in their name, the group is neither federally recognized[6] nor state-recognized[7] as a Native American tribe. Delois Chavis of Winton has been a leader of this organization, which purchased 146 acres of land in Gates County.[5]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Roy F. Johnson (1991). "Menatonon". In Powell, William S. (ed.). Dictionary of North Carolina Biography: L–O. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. p. 251. ISBN 0-8078-1806-2.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Heard, J. Norman (1987). Handbook of the American Frontier: The Southeastern Woodlands. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. p. 101. Retrieved 10 November 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Hodge, Frederick Webb (1907). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: A-M. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 292.
  4. ↑ Milteer, Warren E. “From Indians to Colored People: The Problem of Racial Categories and the Persistence of the Chowans in North Carolina.” The North Carolina Historical Review, vol. 93, no. 1, 2016, pp. 28–57. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/44113316. Retrieved 14 Dec. 2023.
  5. 1 2 Petrone, Justin (13 September 2018). "Chowanoke Descendants Reclaim Ancestral Land, Envision Cultural Center". Indian Country Today. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
  6. ↑ "Indian Entities Recognized by and Eligible To Receive Services From the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs". Indian Affairs Bureau. Federal Register. 4 April 2022. pp. 7554–58. Retrieved 21 January 2022.
  7. ↑ "State Recognized Tribes". National Conference of State Legislatures. Archived from the original on 25 October 2022. Retrieved 4 April 2022.

Further reading

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