Hatteras (people)

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Residential area of ​​the Hatteras and neighboring tribes from 1657 to 1795

The Hatteras , also Croatoan or Croatan were a small tribe of Indians whose tribal area primarily on the offshore islands and sandbanks, the Outer Banks , on the east coast of present-day state of North Carolina in the United States was. Linguistically they can be assigned to the small group of the North Carolina Algonquin . The Croatoan were among the first tribes of North American Indians who had contact with English colonists in 1584/85.

Residential area and environment

At the time of the first contact with the Europeans around 1584, the residential area of ​​the Croatoan comprised today's Dare County with the Alligator River , the Croatan Sound , Roanoke Island and the Outer Banks including Hatteras Island . The width of the islands in the Outer Banks is in places less than 200 meters. Cape Hatteras marks the easternmost point . There the distance to the mainland is around 50 kilometers. Because of this exposed location, the islands are very badly affected by the effects of frequent hurricanes . The area west of the Pamlico Sound on the Alligator River is forested or swampy, overgrown with incense pines ( Pinus taeda ) and cypresses ( Taxodium distichum ). The northeastern part of the Outer Banks from the border with Virginia to Oregon Inlet is mostly sandy and sea grass and beach grass , as well as prickly pears ( Opuntia humifasa ) and yucca ( Yucca aloifolia coverage). The palmetto palm ( Sabal palmetto ), the dwarf palmetto ( Sabal minor ) and the pindo palm ( Butia capitata ) thrive south of Cape Hatteras .

Way of life and culture

Fishing methods among the Croatoan

The Croatoan were excellent canoeists and fishermen. A large part of their diet consisted of fish and mussels, which were caught and collected preferably in spring, but also at other times of the year. They made their nets with meshes of different sizes from the fibers of the Asclepias syriaca for catching herring , allis shad and allis shad . In rivers and estuaries, fish were caught with weirs and constructions made of reed, and with spears from canoes or in shallow water. At night fish were lured to the boats by fire and caught with nets. Birds and mammals were hunted with bows and arrows, and snakes and turtles were prey of the Croatoan in the swamps .

history

The place names and proper names, which are mostly unusual for Europeans, come from the language of the indigenous people, the North Carolina Algonquin. The name Hatteras is the English version of an Algonquin word and means little vegetation . Many other place names and proper names were adopted from this language by English settlers in the 18th century. The Croatoan were the only tribe that inhabited the Outer Banks year round. The other peoples from the mainland only came to the islands for fishing and hunting. The Croatoan withdrew to wooded areas and the safe haven of Hatteras Island in winter.

Scientists suggest that the North Carolina Algonquin was born around 500 BC. Reached the area on the east coast of North Carolina. Numerous artifacts have been found in archaeological sites at Buxton and Frisco on Hatteras Island. At Kings Point in Frisco, archaeologists were able to locate a site where enormous amounts of mussel shells had been deposited. They concluded that there were a relatively large number of Indians in a territory that reached from today's Buxton to Frisco. The land below the Cape Hatteras School in Buxton is worshiped as sacred by the indigenous people. All known accounts of the life of the indigenous people of the Outer Banks come from the European explorers. In 1524 Giovanni da Verrazzano anchored off the coast, probably between Cape Lookout and Cape Hatteras, where there was a friendly encounter with the Indians. Spanish ships also landed on the coast before the English, as can be seen from old Spanish maps of this area. An early English map of 1585 called the island Croatan Iceland , during one of John White -drawn map, the cape with Hattorask referred. John White and 117 colonists landed here on June 22, 1587. They were warmly welcomed by the natives before they continued to Roanoke Island and founded the first English colony there. When John White visited the Roanoke colony again in 1590 after a long stay in England, the colonists had disappeared and the only clues to their whereabouts were the letters CRO and CROATOAN carved into a tree trunk . John White interpreted the message as saying they had gone to the Croatoan. An expedition sent from England to Roanoke in 1602 found no further traces of the lost colonists . Today it is believed that the colonists actually moved to the Croatoan. Some residents of Hatteras Island remember white ancestors and have an eye color not otherwise found among Native Americans.

From the beginning of the 18th century, the Croatoan were called Hatteras by the English settlers . The indigenous population decreased rapidly. The main reasons for this were the diseases brought in by Europeans, such as tuberculosis and smallpox , against which they had no resistance. But also wars against tribes from the mainland, such as against the Coree and Machapunga in 1714 , took their toll on human lives. John Lawson counted only around 40 to 50 Hatteras around 1709 and the tribe has been considered extinct since 1788.

See also

literature

Web links

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

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Christian F. Feest : North Carolina Algonquians , pp. 273-277.
  2. ↑ a b c d History of Hatteras , accessed February 20, 2011
  3. ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Christian Feest: North Carolina Algonquians , p. 280.