Manahoac
The Manahoac , also known as Mahock , were a North American Indian tribe from the Sioux language family . They were linguistically and culturally with the tribes of the Saponi , tutelo , Occaneechi , Monacan , Shakori related and other eastern peoples of the Sioux, whose traditional habitat in the Piedmont region of Appalachia in today's states Virginia and North Carolina was. Scientists suggest that the Sioux once formed a large, uniform group in the Ohio River Valley, which later separated and then moved either east or west. The last survivors of the Manahoac were probably taken in and integrated by the Tutelo and Saponi. The tribe has therefore been considered extinct since 1728.
Tribal area and livelihood
At the beginning of the 17th century, the Manahoac lived mainly along the Rappahannock River , west of the falls and east of the Blue Ridge Mountains . In the north the tribal area extended to the Potomac River and in the south to the Anna River . Their habitat was above the fall line and reached the low mountains of the Blue Ridge Mountains. The environmental conditions were favorable. On the alluvial land along the Rappahannock River, fields could easily be created, the fertility of which was quickly renewed by the mud from the seasonal floods. The Manahoac built primarily on corn, beans and squash, the so-called Three Sisters (Three Sisters). During excavations, archaeologists found remains of these fruits on hotplates. Fish and water birds were abundant in the rivers. The region's Indians spent the colder part of the year in hunting camps to kill white-tailed deer , raccoons and other mammals.
Culture
Like other Sioux-speaking tribes in the Piedmont region, the Manahoac lived in several independent villages. The Sioux tribes had various connections with each other, such as through trade, ceremonial celebrations and mixed marriages. Relations with neighboring Monacan were particularly close. Similar to them, they traded with the Powhatan tribes in the east and the Iroquois in the north. They dug for copper, which they used in necklaces, which the Powhatan coveted. The Manahoac traditionally buried their dead in barrows called mounds , a custom that set them apart from neighboring tribes. Thirteen mounds were discovered and partially excavated in the area of the Piedmont and mountain regions. There are scientific studies according to which the barrow culture existed 950 years before the arrival of the Europeans and dates back to the so-called Late Woodland Period (approx. 100 BC to 500 AD), i.e. the Late Woodland Period . The mounds reach a height of at least six meters (20 feet) and are apparently built by ancestors of the Monacan and Manahoac. They are unique because they contain hundreds to thousands of dead and have been called growing mounds . Many of these mounds were either completely destroyed by humans or suffered significantly from erosion and flooding.
history
In 1608 John Smith visited a group of the Manahoac above the falls of the Rappahannock River. He reported that they lived in at least seven villages in the region. The Manahoac would be allies of the Monacan, with whom they shared the same language and culture. The Powhatan, however, are their enemies because they have a different language and culture.
In the course of the Beaver Wars between 1640 and 1701, the Iroquois Confederation tried to assert its supremacy in the fur trade with the Europeans and to expand its territory to the territory of the neighboring Algonquin tribes in order to be able to act as an intermediary in the trade between the Europeans and the western tribes. The wars were fought with extreme brutality on both sides and are considered to be one of the bloodiest confrontations in North American history. The expansion of the Iroquois under the leadership of the Mohawk and the expulsion of the inferior tribes changed the tribal geography throughout eastern North America. The tribes in Virginia were also affected and the balance of power changed. In 1663 a force of 800 Iroquois warriors raided the Susquehannock and drove the Manahoac out of the Virginia-Piedmont region. The Seneca then declared the conquered area their own hunting grounds. The British gave their approval in 1674 and 1684 and in 1722 contractually acquired the territory from the Iroquois as their own property. The war with the Iroquois and imported European diseases, against which they had no powers of resistance, reduced the tribe to fewer than fifty warriors.
The surviving Manahoac apparently united with the Monacan around 1670 and moved under the protection of Fort Christanna in Brunswick County for fear of further Iraqi attacks . In 1714, Governor Alexander Spotswood of the Virginia Colony noted that a group of the Manahoac had arrived at Fort Christianna. The fort was founded by Spotswood and the Church to convert the indigenous people to Christianity and to teach them the English language. Many other eastern Sioux tribes were also represented. The last mention of a group of the Manahoac in historical records dates back to 1723. Historians suggest that they joined and were integrated by the Tutelo and Saponi. These two tribes eventually united with their earlier Iroquois enemies, particularly the Cayuga nation. From 1870, a report from the stems merry old man named Mosquito (cheerful old man named Mosquito) from Canada, who claimed he was the last of the Manahoac and legal owners of much of northern Virginia. In addition, he spoke the Sioux language of his tribe.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d John Reed Swanton: The Indian Tribes of North America , p. 62, Genealogic Publishing Company 2002. ISBN 978-0-8063-1730-4 .
- ^ A b Douglas W. Boyce: Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 15: Northeast, Iroquoian Tribes of the Virginia-North Carolina Coastal Plain , pp. 282-285.
- ^ Keith Egloff: First People - The Early Indians of Virginia . University of Virginia Press, 2006, ISBN 978-0-8139-2548-6 .
- ↑ Fairfax Harrison: Landmarks of Old Prince William , 1924, pp. 25 + 33.