Roanoke (people)

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

The Roanoke were an Indian tribe whose tribal area was on the northeast coast and on the offshore Roanoke Island in 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 . The Roanoke were among the first tribes of North American Indians who had contact with English colonists in 1584/85. They have been considered extinct since 1763.

Residential area and environment

At the time of the first contact with the Europeans around 1584, the residential area of ​​the Roanoke comprised the northeastern part of the Albemarle-Pamlico Peninsula and the upstream Outer Banks with Roanoke Island. Three villages are known from the records of the early colonists, namely Tramaskecooc on East Lake, Dasemunkapeuc on Croatan Sound, and Roanoke on Roanoke Island. The northeastern North Carolina consists largely of shallow lakes, sluggishly flowing streams and rivers and brackish sins that are km wide up to 48th Silt grass (Spartina patens) and sweet grass (Distichlis spicata) are found in the salt marshes and marshes , while beach grass (Uniola paniculata) grows on coastal dunes. The swamp pine (Pinus serotina), the frankincense pine (Pinus taeda) and a large number of bushes and shrubs dominate the tree species that occur .

Way of life and culture

North Carolina Algonquin fishing

The Roanoke lived mainly from fishing, besides hunting and some gardening. They killed the fish with spears and caught them with fish traps and weirs from Ried . They used their dugout canoes to catch fish and collect clams and crabs, and lived on the coast while their corn was ripening in the fields. Although largely self-sufficient , they did some regional trade with other tribes. The Indians of the coastal plain lived in towns or villages and were organized in households, village communities and confederations under the leadership of tribal chiefs . In addition, there were empires and alliances of considerable size. Rivers and other waterways united the individual tribes rather than representing borders. The Roanoke, for example, inhabited both sides of the Croatan Sound and the Secotan both banks of the Pamlico River . The three major ethnic groups, the Algonquian , Iroquois and Sioux, were embroiled in long-running internal and external conflicts and wars. Impenetrable swamps and forests dominate the region to this day. The life of the Indians was crucially dependent on the means of transport that they had developed over the centuries.

Throughout eastern North Carolina, Native Americans used only one form of watercraft, the canoe, for transportation . The word comes from the Arawak in the Caribbean and was introduced by the English to denote Indian boats. It was by no means the light, easy-to-transport bark canoe used by the Indians in the north. It was a much heavier dugout canoe with a blunt stern, made in several sizes for different purposes. In his report from 1584, Arthur Barlowe describes the manufacture of a dugout canoe:

Making a North Carolina Algonquin dugout canoe

“Your boats were made from a tree trunk, either pine or pitch pine : a tree that nobody in England knows and that doesn't grow there either. They have no tools for felling trees ... they cut a large tree by burning it at the root or take a tree felled by a storm; they put myrrh and roses on one side and light it; when it is burnt, they cut out the coal with their mussel shells; if you want to burn it out deeper or further, add more humus and set it on fire; in this way they make excellent boats that can carry twenty men "

- Arthur Barlowe : Report (quoted from: Fort Raleigh National Historic Site )

history

On August 17, 1585, 108 white colonists founded a colony on Roanoke Island on behalf of Walter Raleigh . It was the first English colony on American soil and Ralph Lane was elected governor. Lane had Fort Raleigh and some huts built in the north of Roanoke Island , in which the English could spend the coming winter.

Neighbors of the colonists were the Roanoke, whose main village, Dasemunkapeuc, was opposite the island on the mainland. Relations between the natives and the English were initially good. They soon consumed the food they had brought with them. Because the year was too far ahead, the colonists saw it as pointless to plant their own grain and vegetables. They were also not very successful in hunting and fishing and so they relied on the hospitality and generosity of the Indians. The roanoke's generosity, however, ended when they themselves had nothing to eat. The strangers tried to get what the Indians refused to give them by force, and the friendship turned into open enmity. There were also unknown diseases such as smallpox and tuberculosis , which decimated the Indians and blamed the colonists for it.

In May 1586, warriors from the allied coastal tribes gathered in Dasemunkapeuc to ambush the English on Roanoke Island. But Lane learned of this attack plan and was the first to strike. Before the attack on the Indian village, Lane sent a detachment to the west bank of Roanoke Island to retrieve any canoes they could see in the evening light and separate any Indians from those on the mainland . Although he had lost the element of surprise, Lane could split the opposing forces. He crossed the sound, attacked the Indian village and killed King Wingina of the Roanoke. Then he had the village burned down. Ten days later, discouraged, all the colonists left the island before a supply ship arrived, and returned to England with Francis Drake's fleet.

A little later the expected supply ship reached the island. 15 men stayed behind to protect England's right to the colony. Presumably they were killed by the Roanoke. In the summer of 1587 another group of around 110 colonists, including 17 women and 9 children, came to Roanoke Island. When John White reached the island in a delayed supply ship in 1590, there was no trace of the English inhabitants. Only the word CROATOAN carved into a tree trunk gave a vague reference. It is believed that they fled the Roanoke and were taken in by the Croatoan living further south . To this day it is not known what became of the residents of the Lost Colony .

The Roanoke were among the most populous tribes of the North Carolina Algomkin, and their number was estimated to be at least 5,000 at the time of first contact with Europeans. Later there was next to no information about the tribe, which was last mentioned in 1763.

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 , 271.
  2. ^ A b c Indian Canoes of Eastern Carolina , accessed February 23, 2011
  3. ^ A b Klaus Harpprecht / Thomas Höpker: America - The history of the conquest from Florida to Canada , GEO im Verlag, 1986. Page 157/158
  4. ↑ The Lost Colony ( Memento of the original from December 3, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , accessed February 25, 2011 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.fundstuecke.at
  5. ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Christian Feest: North Carolina Algonquians , 280.