Total population | |
---|---|
extinct | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States ( South Carolina) | |
Languages | |
unknown, possibly an Eastern Siouan language [1] | |
Religion | |
Native American religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
probably Catawba people [1] |
The Wateree were a Native American tribe in the interior of the present-day Carolinas. They probably belonged to the Siouan-Catawba language family. First encountered by the Spanish in 1567 in Western North Carolina, they migrated to the southeast and what developed as South Carolina by 1700, where English colonists noted them.
There they had settled along the Wateree River, near the site of what developed as present-day Camden, South Carolina. Originally a large tribe, they suffered high mortality during the Yamasee War of 1715. By the middle of the 18th century, they joined with the Catawba nation and lived near the modern Catawba Reservation.
The name Wateree may come from Catawban wateran, "to float on the water" [1] or from yeh is-WAH h'reh / ye iswąʔre.[ citation needed ]
This people were recorded in 1567 by Spanish captain Juan Pardo's scribe Juan de la Bandera during their expedition through the interior of the Carolinas. [1] Bandera called them the Guatari in his journal, which was also given as the name of their village. [2] Bandera described them as ruled by two female chiefs. [1]
The Spaniards noted that Guatari was far from the coast. The settlement is believed to have been in present-day Rowan County, North Carolina. In 1670, English colonists and explorers mentioned the Wateree as inhabiting the area of the upper Yadkin River, to the northwest of their later habitat.
By 1700, when observed by John Lawson's expedition, the Wateree had migrated south to settle along the Wateree River near the site of present-day Camden, South Carolina. [1] The British observed that the chiefs of the Wateree had a higher degree of power than those of other Indian tribes of the region.
Originally a large tribe, the Wateree had their power broken during the Yamasee War of 1715 against Carolina colonists. The Wateree became allies in a tribal confederation dominated by the Catawba. The latter tribe absorbed remnant bands of many other tribes of the region from the chaos of intertribal fighting. [1]
The Wateree appeared to have been able to maintain their culture and distinct language as late as 1744. A record of land sale noted that Wateree Indians sold to a white man. The tribe as a group culture has become extinct, but some present-day Catawba are likely genetic descendants of the Wateree.
The Catawba, also known as Issa, Essa or Iswä but most commonly Iswa, are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. Their current lands are in South Carolina, on the Catawba River, near the city of Rock Hill. Their territory once extended into North Carolina, as well, and they still have legal claim to some parcels of land in that state. They were once considered one of the most powerful Southeastern tribes in the Carolina Piedmont, as well as one of the most powerful tribes in the South as a whole, with other, smaller tribes merging into the Catawba as their post-contact numbers dwindled due to the effects of colonization on the region.
The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina from September 10, 1711, until February 11, 1715, between the Tuscarora people and their allies on one side and European American settlers, the Yamasee, and other allies on the other. This was considered the bloodiest colonial war in North Carolina. The Tuscarora signed a treaty with colonial officials in 1718 and settled on a reserved tract of land in Bertie County, North Carolina. The war incited further conflict on the part of the Tuscarora and led to changes in the slave trade of North and South Carolina.
The Waccamaw people were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, who lived in villages along the Waccamaw and Pee Dee rivers in North and South Carolina in the 18th century.
Joara was a large Native American settlement, a regional chiefdom of the Mississippian culture, located in what is now Burke County, North Carolina, about 300 miles from the Atlantic coast in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Joara is notable as a significant archaeological and historic site, where Mississippian culture-era and European artifacts have been found, in addition to an earthwork platform mound and remains of a 16th-century Spanish fort.
The Yamasee War was a conflict fought in South Carolina from 1715 to 1717 between British settlers from the Province of Carolina and the Yamasee, who were supported by a number of allied Native American peoples, including the Muscogee, Cherokee, Catawba, Apalachee, Apalachicola, Yuchi, Savannah River Shawnee, Congaree, Waxhaw, Pee Dee, Cape Fear, Cheraw, and others. Some of the Native American groups played a minor role, while others launched attacks throughout South Carolina in an attempt to destroy the colony.
The Cape Fear Indians were a small, coastal tribe of Native Americans who lived on the Cape Fear River in North Carolina.
The Yamasees were a multiethnic confederation of Native Americans who lived in the coastal region of present-day northern coastal Georgia near the Savannah River and later in northeastern Florida. The Yamasees engaged in revolts and wars with other native groups and Europeans living in North America, specifically from Florida to North Carolina.
The Saponi are a Native American tribe historically based in the Piedmont of North Carolina and Virginia. They spoke a Siouan language, related to the languages of the Tutelo, Biloxi, and Ofo.
The Pedee people, also Pee Dee and Peedee, were a historic Native American tribe of the Southeastern United States. Historically, their population has been concentrated in the Piedmont of present-day South Carolina. It is believed that in the 17th and 18th centuries, English colonists named the Pee Dee River and the Pee Dee region of South Carolina for the tribe. Today four state-recognized tribes, one state-recognized group, and several unrecognized groups claim descent from the historic Pedee people. Presently none of these organizations are recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, with the Catawba Indian Nation being the only federally recognized tribe within South Carolina.
The Santee were a historic tribe of Native Americans that once lived in South Carolina within the counties of Clarendon and Orangeburg, along the Santee River. The Santee were a small tribe even during the early eighteenth century and were primarily centered in the area of the present-day town of Santee, South Carolina. Their settlement along the Santee River has since been dammed and is now called Lake Marion. The Santee Indian Organization, a state-recognized tribe within South Carolina claim descent from the historic Santee people but are not presently federally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
The Wateree River, about 75 mi (120 km) long, is a tributary of the Santee River in central South Carolina in the United States, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. It was named for the Wateree Native Americans, a tribe who had migrated to this area from western North Carolina. They lived here until the early 18th century, when they were set upon and displaced by mostly English settlers during the Yamasee War. Survivors merged with the larger Catawba people, becoming extinct as a tribe.
The Cheraw people, also known as the Saraw or Saura, were a Siouan-speaking tribe of Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, in the Piedmont area of North Carolina near the Sauratown Mountains, east of Pilot Mountain and north of the Yadkin River. They lived in villages near the Catawba River. Their first European and African contact was with the Hernando De Soto Expedition in 1540. The early explorer John Lawson included them in the larger eastern-Siouan confederacy, which he called "the Esaw Nation."
The Occaneechi are Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands whose historical territory was in the Piedmont region of present-day North Carolina and Virginia.
The Congaree were a historic Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands who once lived within what is now central South Carolina, along the Congaree River.
The Cusabo were a group of American Indian tribes who lived along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean in what is now South Carolina, approximately between present-day Charleston and south to the Savannah River, at the time of European colonization. English colonists often referred to them as one of the Settlement Indians of South Carolina, tribes who "settled" among the colonists.
The Waxhaw people were a Native American tribe who historically lived in present-day counties of Lancaster, in South Carolina; and Union and Mecklenburg in North Carolina, around the area of present-day Charlotte.
The Eno or Enoke, also called Stuckenock, was an American Indian tribe located in North Carolina during the 17th and 18th centuries that was later absorbed into the Catawba tribe in South Carolina along with various other smaller tribal bands.
The Sissipahaw or Haw were a Native American tribe of North Carolina. They are also variously recorded as Saxahapaw, Sauxpa, Sissipahaus, etc. Their settlements were generally located in the vicinity of modern-day Saxapahaw, North Carolina on the Haw River in Alamance County upstream from Cape Fear. They are possibly first recorded by the Spaniard Vendera in the 16th century as the Sauxpa in South Carolina. Their last mention in history is that the tribe joined the Yamasee against the English colonists in the Yamasee War of 1715. Some scholars speculate that they may have been a branch of the Shakori due to being so closely associated with that tribe but others disagree with this assumption.
The Shakori were an indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands. They were thought to be a Siouan people, closely allied with other nearby tribes such as the Eno and the Sissipahaw. As their name is also recorded as Shaccoree, they may be the same as the Sugaree, as both are Catawba people.
The Kiawah were a tribe of Cusabo people, an alliance of Indigenous groups in lowland regions of the coastal region of what became Charleston, South Carolina.
Wateree language.