Chowanoke

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Residential area of ​​the Chowanoke and neighboring tribes around 1584/85

The Chowanoke , also called Chowan , were an Indian tribe whose residential area was in the northeast of what is now the state of North Carolina in the United States . Linguistically they can be assigned to the small group of the North Carolina Algonquin .

Residential area and demographics

At the time of the first contact with the Europeans around 1584, the residential area of ​​the Chowanoke comprised the banks on both sides of the Chowan River from the confluence of the Meherrin and Blackwater Rivers to the confluence with the Albemarle Sound . The Chowanoke villages on the west bank of the Chowan River from north to south included: Ramushonnouk, Chowanoc, Ohanoak, Metacquem and Tandaquomuc . On the east bank were Cautaking, Ricahokene and Warawtani . Chowanoc was believed to be the largest village in the region and was considered the capital of all 19 villages in the tribe.

By 1584/85 the Chowanoke had around 700 warriors according to estimates by the English explorers. James Mooney put the population of the entire tribe at 1,500 to 1,600 members. The total number of North Carolina Algonquians was estimated at 5,000 to 10,000 members. In 1707, according to John Lawson, there were still 50 chowanokes, in 1731 fewer than 20 families and in 1755 only 7 people were counted. The last information about living chowanoke comes from the year 1796. After that they are considered to be extinct.

Way of life and culture

Secoton around 1585, watercolor by John White
Pomeiooc around 1585, copper engraving by Theodor de Bry

There were numerous, mostly small and short-lived, villages in the residential area of ​​the Chowanoke. They were self-sufficient and consisted of private and public buildings. As a whole, the villages led by chiefs formed tribes, confederations and alliances of different sizes, durations and cultural levels. The inhabitants of these villages did not live in portable wigwams , but in functional houses with mostly several rooms. They had a lifestyle and a culture that is frequently used by the colonists word Savage (dt. Wilde) belied.

In 1585, John White , who later returned to Roanoke Island as governor of the Citie of Raleigh , created detailed drawings and watercolors of two different Indian villages. The first was Pomeiooc and was south of Lake Mattamuskeet in what is now Hyde County . It was surrounded by palisades of smooth, sharpened tree trunks. The village consisted of 18 buildings, which were arranged in a circle around a circular square in the middle. Outside the palisades were fields and an artificial watering hole. The second village of Secoton was not fortified with palisades. It was much larger, had a wide main street and winding paths that led past shady trees, corn and pumpkin fields, tobacco plantations and scattered houses. The village on White's map was on the south bank of the Pamlico River , possibly on Durham Creek, in what is now Beaufort County . The semicircular structure at the top right of Theodor de Bry's copper engraving by Secoton represents a hut for the guards of the fields who "kept screaming and making noise" in order to chase away animals from the ripening corn.

The houses in both villages were of the same type. Records by Thomas Harriot , a member of the colony from 1585/86, state that the houses had a scaffolding, "consisting of thin branches tied at the apex and fastened with cords of animal or vegetable material. They had a similar rounded shape the gazebos in English gardens [...] In many villages the houses were covered with tree bark, in others with rush mats from the roof of the houses to the ground. "

Houses covered with bark were less drafty and easier to heat. Suitable tree bark was hardly available in large quantities, so houses equipped in this way were reserved for Weroances , i.e. chiefs and members of the upper class and their families. Ordinary villagers lived in mat-covered houses. The mats could be raised and lowered to let in light and fresh air, but they were not effective at insulating. White drew several of these houses with mats raised to show the interior. Four of these houses in Secoton and two in Pomeiooc had a worktop or table that apparently served as a shelf. In some large houses there were also chests. These furnishings cannot be seen in White's work, but Arthur Barlowe discovered a chest in 1584 in a chief's house on Roanoke Island. John Smith saw a chest in a Powhatan's house in Werowocomoco in 1607 or 1608 . With a few exceptions, all houses and buildings in both engravings had a rectangular floor plan. According to Harriot, the length was about 11 to 22 meters and the width was usually about half.

Many of the villagers in this region appear to have been chiefs with their relatives, their followers and slaves. Even after death, a Weroance was apparently given a place of honor. In the foreground of the Secoton image, a building can be seen in which a priest takes care of the prepared corpse of a Weroance. Priests and healers lived in the Indian villages and there were central places for festivities and religious ceremonies. The illustration of Pomeiooc shows a circular, skin-covered temple that was larger than the other buildings with the exception of the chief's house. In the picture of Secoton you can see Indians who have sat down to eat in the middle of the main street.

history

According to archaeologists, the main village of Chowanoc, the Chowanoke, had existed since 800 AD. However, the area was settled several thousand years earlier, according to archaeological finds. Research into prehistory is not enough to make a final judgment. What is certain, however, is that the Chowanoke were the most powerful Algonquin tribe south of the Powhatan Confederation. An alliance of the Chowanoke with the Weapemeoc and Secotan was directed against their common enemies in the north, the Powhatan, and against the Iroquois and Sioux tribes in the west and south.

The establishment of the Roanoke colony by the English in 1585 changed the life of the Indians significantly. The initially friendly relationship with the whites turned to open hostility when Ralph Lane was appointed first governor. Lane immediately attacked the village of Chowanoc , killing an unknown number on Chowanoke and capturing Chief Menatonon for interrogation. Menatonon was respected by his people, although he was physically disabled. In his notes, Lane justified the attack on the Chowanoke with a warning he had received from Chief Wingina of the Secotan. In reality, however, he was looking for silver and gold. Menatonon had told him about a rich copper mine farther west, guarded by the belligerent Mangoak . Lane took Menatonon's son Skiko hostage, who was supposed to lead him to the mine. Although Skiko was threatened with death, the expedition failed.

Eventually Lane returned to England with the colonists. Shortly afterwards, many of the indigenous people fell ill with new infectious diseases to which they showed no resistance. They lost a large part of their population through these diseases and permanent wars with the Sioux and Iroquois. There is little record of events in northeast North Carolina in the first half of the 17th century. During this time the Chowanoke had only a few contacts with researchers from Jamestown , Virginia . In 1643, Virginia sent a military expedition south to subdue the Carolinas. At Weynock Creek there was a battle with the Chowanoke, in which a white man and an unknown number of Indians were killed. As a result, the Chowanoke ceded their entire residential area west of the Chowan River, which was soon populated by whites. At first, the Chowanoke were able to live relatively undisturbed in the current residential area east of the Chowan River, because the territory was claimed by both Virginia and Carolina. The tug of war between the two colonies lasted into the next century. So it was not until 1660 that the first settlements of the colonists emerged in the Chowanoke area.

In 1675 Chowanoke warriors attacked the surrounding settlements, killing some colonists and destroying their homes and property. The raids apparently came as a surprise to the whites because they had too few weapons and were poorly organized. After the initial success of the Chowanoke, a militia was set up to crush the Indian uprising. They gave up their last residential area and moved to the first, around 31 km large, Indian reservation in North Carolina on Bennetts Creek in what is now Gates County . By 1707 the reserve had shrunk to less than half because the area was neither measured nor precisely defined. In 1711 the Tuscarora War (1711-1715) broke out, in which the Chowanoke took part in eight campaigns on the side of the colonists. When they returned to their reservation, they found their property destroyed. In 1723 a new 214 km reserve was set up, to which they had to move together with the Tuscarora , their former enemies. In 1733 the North Carolina Council decided that Chowanoke and Tuscarora should unite as a tribe. Several families, now under English names, remained in the reserve until the end of the 18th century. After that, their track is lost.

See also

List of North American Indian tribes

literature

Web links

Commons : North Carolina Algonquin  - Collection of Images, Videos, and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Christian F. Feest : North Carolina Algonquians , 272.
  2. ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Christian Feest: North Carolina Algonquians , 280.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Indian cities and buildings in eastern North Carolina , accessed March 1, 2011
  4. ↑ a b c d Chowan History , accessed February 28, 2011