Weapemeoc

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Residential area of ​​the Weapemeoc and neighboring tribes around 1584/85

The Weapemeoc even Yeopim called, were an Indian tribe whose residential area in the northeast of the 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 .

Residential area and demographics

View of Currituck Sound in North Carolina

At the time of first contact with the Europeans around 1585, the territory of the Weapemeoc comprised the area south of the Chesapeake Bay and north of the Albemarle Sound . The country is still largely swampy today, so their villages were mainly on the rivers and inlets leading to the Albemarle Sound. The tribe was divided into four groups, namely the Paspatank, Perquiman, Poteskeit and Yeopim , who lived on the rivers named after them. Around 1685 they inhabited the villages of Pasquenoke, Masequetuc, Chepanoc, Tramaskecooc and Mascomenge . At the beginning of the 18th century, the Weapemeoc groups were found further east on the coast between the Pasquotank River and the Currituck Sound .

According to estimates by the English explorers, the Chowanoke had around 1,500 tribesmen around 1584/85. James Mooney put the population at 1,500 to 1,600 members. In 1707, there were 20 Weapemeocs left, according to John Lawson . In 1730, the few surviving Weapemeoc lived in a village on the North River that was assigned to them as a reservation by the General Court. The last information about living Weapemeoc dates back to 1733. After that, they are considered extinct.

Way of life and culture

North Carolina Algonquin eating

At the time of the arrival of the English colonists around 1585, the main diet of the Weapemeoc was meat and fish. The hunt for wild mammals and poultry, as well as the fishing belonged to her most important activities besides horticulture and collecting wild herbs.

We know from the records of the English colonist and scientist Thomas Harriot that their tools were not made of metal, but of the materials available to them. Their hunting and especially fishing methods in the shallow waters of the Sunde were considerably more successful than those of the English. They usually caught fish with net-like fish weirs that they stretched across rivers or inlets. These nets were made of reed that was tied together and attached to the sea or river bed by means of posts. The ends of the posts protruded from the water and looked like a fence arranged in a funnel shape. Another fishing technique was killing the fish with a spear, either from a canoe or while wading in shallow water. The spear had a shaft made of wood or reed, was pointed at one end or had the tail of a king crab as a spear tip.

The hunt was done with a bow and arrow, with the hunters sneaking up on the game in the high reeds. The bows were made of maple or hazelnut branches and the arrows were made of thatch with a tip made of shells, stone or a fish tooth. Occasionally the arrowheads were poisoned.

In addition to meat, fish and wild herbs, the Weapemeoc grew various crops. Corn was very common and almost never was missing from meals. Harriot was impressed by the variety and high yield of Native American corn. He also reported on beans , pumpkins , squash and cucumbers . Pumpkins were eaten raw and cooked and were often part of a meal. Bottle gourds , however, were used more as rattles, ladles, and storage containers. Sunflower were 1.80 m and greater, and from the flour of their nuclei bread was baked, while the ash of the stems of Log (Atriplex) was used as a salt substitute.

Tobacco, probably Nicotiana rustica , was grown separately on special areas, according to Harriot. The dried leaves were burned in the sacred fire for religious and ceremonial purposes and tobacco smoke also played a major role in Indian medicine.

Unlike their northern relatives in Virginia , the soil was barely fertilized before planting. Even so, Harriot found it was extraordinarily fertile, with two harvests a year. The seeds were not planted in rows, but in small mounds. Most of the work in the fields and in the garden was done by women. There was little work-specific specialization among the Indians, and a family of sufficient size could live well on the fruits of their labor. There was only a certain amount of cooperation when clearing forests, fighting pests, and fishing and hunting. The tribute payments to the upper class were relatively high compared to today's taxes. As John Lawson and other contemporaries observed, common tribesmen often suffered hardship and there were supplies of food to provide for those in need. In general, the fields were private property, which the local Indians apparently conscientiously respected.

The agriculture of the North Carolina Indians cannot be described as highly developed. There were very few different crops: a grain, a few legumes, a spice, no cabbage, no lettuce, and no pets. Growing the same crops exhausted the soil and forced the residents to move regularly and to cultivate new arable land. But for many centuries, agriculture helped the hard-working indigenous people to replenish their inadequate food sources.

history

Philip Amadas met the Yeopim and other Weapemeocs in 1584 while looking for suitable land to host the first English colony. At that time the Weapemeoc were led by Chief Okisco . They were allies of their western neighbors, the Chowanoke under their chief Menatonon . The eastern neighbors were the Roanoke under Chief Wingina . When tension arose between the colonists and the Roanoke, Menatonon sided with the English and asked Okisco to ally with them as well. But Okisco and his tribe members refused to participate in the war and moved with them further inland. The land inhabited by the Weapemeoc was mostly swampy and therefore initially of little interest to white settlers.

However, they were infected by European diseases to which they had no powers of resistance. Many Weapemeoc died of smallpox and measles, or were killed in conflicts with other tribes. Their enemies were primarily the Sioux and Iroquois tribes living in the west and south-west . By 1707 there were only 20 tribesmen left, according to Lawson.

In 1697, the Yeopim complained to the colonial government about the invasion of their land by white settlers. To solve the problem, the government established a 41.5 km reservation on the North River for the tribe in 1704 . At the same time, a contract was signed between the tribe and the colonial government, which guaranteed the tribe all hunting and fishing rights, on the other hand the English could claim half of all gold and silver finds in the country. Around 1733, the Yawpim village existed on the reservation and is now known as Indiantown, the remains of which are currently being studied by archaeologists. In 1739 the Yeopim sold their last land in the reserve, at the location of which a so-called marker (memorial plaque) was erected in 1992. It contains the following text: "Yeopim - Reservation established for Yeopim Indians in 1704; sold after 1739. Northern boundary nearby; village was 2 miles SE" (Reservation for Yeopim Indians was established in 1704. The northern border was nearby; the village was 3.2 km southeast).

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. ↑ a b Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Christian F. Feest : North Carolina Algonquians , 280.
  2. ^ A b c Indian Fishing and Hunting , accessed March 4, 2011
  3. ^ A b c d Indian Agriculture in Eastern North Carolina , accessed March 4, 2011
  4. ↑ a b - WEAPEMEOC Marker Weapemeoc , accessed March 6, 2011
  5. ^ Yeopim Historical Marker. In: hmdb.org. June 16, 2016, accessed December 1, 2018 .