Monacan
The Monacan are a North American Indian tribe from the Sioux language family . They were linguistically and culturally related to the tribes of the Saponi , Tutelo , Occaneechi , Manahoac , Shakori and other eastern peoples of the Sioux, whose traditional habitat was in the Piedmont region of the Appalachians in what is now the states of Virginia and North Carolina . Scientists suspect that the Sioux once formed a large, uniform group that later separated and then moved east or west. When the first British colonists arrived, the Monacan lived above the falls of the James River around 1607 and were traditionally enemies with the neighboring tribes of the Powhatan Confederation . In 1989 the tribe was officially recognized by the state of Virginia as the Monacan Indian Tribe of Virginia .
Residential area and culture
When the first British colonists arrived in Jamestown in 1607 , they first met Algonquin- speaking Indians from the Powhatan Confederation on the American east coast . Further west in the Piedmont region lived the Sioux-speaking tribes of the Monacan and Manahoac. They were united in a coalition and their tribal territory stretched from the Roanoke River valley in the south to the Potomac River in the north and from the fall line of the mountains at what is now Richmond and Fredericksburg in the east to the Blue Ridge Mountains in the west.
The Monacan and their neighbors cultivated horticulture and mainly planted corn, beans and pumpkin, the so-called three sisters . In addition, there were sunflowers, fruit trees, wild grapes and nut trees. They lived in palisaded villages and their huts had domed roofs covered with tree bark and mats made of reed. Every year they left their villages to go to hunting camps to hunt deer, elk and small game. They traded with the Powhatan tribes in the east and Iroquois in the north. They dug for copper, which they used in necklaces, which the Powhatan coveted. The Monacan 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. They provide important information about the culture and life of the early Americans who settled in this region more than 10,000 years ago.
history
Shortly before the arrival of the colonists in Virginia in 1607, a devastating epidemic raged among the Indians in the region , probably brought in by the Spanish explorers in the 16th century. The Indians had no defenses against such diseases as smallpox and flu and even led to the extinction of a village or the entire population of a tribe. It was in this difficult situation that the first British colonists arrived. Unlike the Powhatan, who treated the newcomers in a friendly manner, the Monacan avoided any contact with the English if possible. Several explorers visited their villages and described their way of life, but no one stayed long enough to learn their language. Therefore, there are very few records of their way of life and culture in contrast to the Powhatan.
Between 1607 and 1720 there were a series of encounters with white visitors, reports of which have been passed down. In September 1608, Christopher Newport was sent out with 120 men to visit the Monacan below the falls on the James River. They found several Monacan cities and determined that Rassaweck on the James River was the capital. A map of the area visited comes from Newport, on which the individual cities of the Monacan are drawn.
After this time, the Monacan gradually moved westward, away from the arriving settlers. Some of the tribesmen stayed under the protection of Fort Christanna in Brunswick County for a period from 1714 . These Monacans moved to Shamokin in Pennsylvania in 1740 and finally to Canada, where they were accepted by the Cayuga from the Iroquois League in the Six Nations Reserve of the Grand River in what is now Ontario . Part of the Monacan, however, stayed at home in the Virginia Mountains at Bear Mountain in Amherst County . Other members of related tribes, such as the Saponi, Occaneechi, Tutelo, and some remaining Tuscarora joined them and also decided to remain in Virginia. Around 1868 the Christian community built a log house that was used as a church. In 1908, Bishop P. Gray, Jr. Build Saint Paul's Mission and Bear Mountain Indian Mission School .
In the early 20th century, the Monacan, like the rest of the Virginia Indians, fought to maintain their identity and culture. The races Integrity Act of 1924 (Racial Integrity Act of 1924) and the subsequent legislation prohibiting mixed marriages in Virginia and called for a voluntary certified identification of race with births and marriages. White was defined as having no trace of African ancestry , while all other people were referred to as colored . In order to classify the Virginia's elite, who named Pocahontas and John Rolfe as ancestors, the law allowed an exception: Anyone who has a sixteenth or less of American Indian blood and no non-Caucasian blood of any other origin is considered a white person.
On February 14, 1989, the Monacan were recognized by the Commonwealth of Virginia as the Monacan Indian Tribe of Virginia . In 1995 the Episcopal Diocese returned the land with the old mission to the tribe. The complex now serves as the tribe's museum and cultural center. After the original log cabin was renovated, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places .
See also
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Monacan Indian Nation. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .
- ↑ a b c d e Monacan homepage. Retrieved November 16, 2016 .