indigenous cultures occupied the area from 4500 BC. After warfare, in 1677 English colonists set aside a reservation for the tribe near Bennett's Creek. The Chowanoke suffered high mortality due to

infectious disease An infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable di ...

, including a

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious ...

in 1696. Descendants with Chowanoke ancestry survived but merged with other groups, and they lost the last of their communal land in 1821. Chowanoke descendants still live in the state, particularly in

Gates Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to: People * Gates (surname), various people with the last name * Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player * Gates McFadde ...

and Chowan counties. Through the centuries some families have maintained their Chowanoke identity; others intermarried and gradually identified with other ethnic groups.

History

The Algonquian peoples who developed in what is now known as North Carolina likely migrated from northern coastal areas, and developed a culture modified by local conditions. The numerous tribes occupied an approximately area of Carolina Algonqkian territory in northeastern North Carolina, from the

Neuse River The Neuse River ( , Tuscarora: Neyuherú·kęʔkì·nęʔ) is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern. Its total length is approximately , making it the longest river entirely contained in ...

to the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

. Tribes included the Chowanoke,

Weapemeoc The Weapemeoc Indians were a small Native American tribe from northeastern North Carolina. They lived on the north shore of Albemarle Sound. that was first noted in literature in 1585/1586. At that time, they approximately had 700 to 800 people. T ...

, Poteskeet, Moratoc, Roanoke,

Secotan The Secotans were one of several groups of American Indians dominant in the Carolina sound region, between 1584 and 1590, with which English colonists had varying degrees of contact. Secotan villages included the Secotan, Aquascogoc, Dasamonguep ...

( Secoughtan), Pomuik,

Neusiok The Neusiok were an Indigenous people of the Southeastern Wooodlands in present-day North Carolina. They were also known as the Neuse Indians. Territory The Neusiok lived along the southern banks of the Neuse River, primarily in what are now ...

, Croatan and possibly the

Chesepiooc The Chesepian or Chesapeake were a Native American tribe who inhabited the area now known as South Hampton Roads in the U.S. state of Virginia. They occupied an area which is now the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, and Virginia Beach Virgi ...

. According to the 16th-century English

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Ralph Lane Sir Ralph Lane (c. 1532 – October 1603)
Boston: Directors of the Old South Work, 1902, ''Documenting the America ...

, the Chowanoke (''Chowanoc,'' ''Chawonoc'') had 19 villages, with the capital being the town of ''Chowanoke.'' Present-day Harrellsville in Hertford County developed near this historic site. The Chowanoke were the most numerous and most powerful of the Algonquian tribes in North Carolina. Lane described this town as being large enough to muster 700-800 warriors, which meant the capital's population was likely more than 2100. A later account by

Thomas Harriot Thomas Harriot (; – 2 July 1621), also spelled Harriott, Hariot or Heriot, was an English astronomer, mathematician, ethnographer and translator to whom the theory of refraction is attributed. Thomas Harriot was also recognized for his con ...

estimated that all the villages could muster 800 warriors. Lane's account was quite accurate in terms of his description of the town, its location and structures, which was confirmed by later archeological excavations there. The population estimates may have accurately been between his (which might have been 4,000 for all the people, and Harriot's, about 2100 overall). Archeological excavation in the 1980s at the site of Chowanoke confirmed Lane's report of its location and elements of his description. The town had been occupied by humans for nearly 1000 years, with radiocarbon dating establishing 825 AD as the earliest date of culture related to the Chowanoke people. The town was a mile long, including large agricultural fields for cultivated crops. It was home to several hundred Chowanoke people and possibly as many as 2100. Near the north end of what the archeologists called Area B, they found a precinct for the ruler and nobility of elite residences, public buildings, temples and burials. This may have been the 30-

longhouse A longhouse or long house is a type of long, proportionately narrow, single-room building for communal dwelling. It has been built in various parts of the world including Asia, Europe, and North America. Many were built from timber and often rep ...

cluster observed by Harriot. Evidence of other residences was found in areas that have been eroded at the edges of the peninsula, as the site has been reduced by the river. Other parts of the site showed older habitation: occupation in the Middle Archaic Morrow Mountain phase (ca. 3500-4500 B.C.); and again in the Deep Creek (8000-300 B.C.) and Mount Pleasant (300 B.C.-A.D. 800) phases of the Woodland period. This is typical of other sites of indigenous habitation, in which different groups lived in certain areas and abandoned them for a time, and other groups later migrated to occupy the area again. It is probable that infectious diseases transmitted by contact with European explorers and colonists, such as measles and

, caused high fatalities and considerably weakened the Chowanoke, as took place with other coastal Carolina Algonquian peoples. None had natural immunity to such new diseases, which had been endemic among Europeans for centuries. The neighboring

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian ...

-speaking Tuscarora, who had inhabited areas to the inland, moved in and expelled the remaining Chowanoke from the territory along the river. In 1607 an English colonial expedition, in the area on orders from

Captain John Smith John Smith (baptized 6 January 1580 – 21 June 1631) was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the colony at Jamestown, Virginia, the first pe ...

of Jamestown, found that hardly any Chowanoke people were left along the Chowan River. They had been reduced to one settlement across the river in

Gates County Gates County is a small, rural county located in the northeastern portion of the U.S. state of North Carolina, on the border with Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 10,478. Its county seat is Gatesville. Gates County is includ ...

on Bennett's Creek. Several decades later, in 1644 and 1675–77, the Chowanoke had regained sufficient strength to wage two wars against English settlers. They met defeat each time. After these wars, in 1677 the settlers designated the Chowanoke settlement on Bennett's Creek as the first Indian reservation in the territory of the present-day United States of America. It consisted of 11,360 acres. The Chowanoke through the 18th century gradually lost land through sales and other actions. Men's names were recorded on tribal land conveyance documents. In 1821 they lost the last 30 acres of communal land. Once they were landless, the Chowanoke were often no longer considered Native Americans. The European Americans tended to classify everyone as either colored (even free people of color) or white, not taking into account the continued existence of Native American people. Like other Algonquian peoples, the Chowanoke had a traditional matrilineal kinship system, in which children were considered born into the mother's family and clan. Native American descendants, such as the Chowanoke, were often classified among the free people of color on census documents. They no longer functioned formally as a tribe and disappeared from most historical accounts.

Heritage group

In the early 21st century, Chowanoke descendants in the Bennett's Creek area formed an organization called the Chowanoke Indian Nation. Although they use ''nation'' in their name, the group is neither

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

nor state-recognized as a

Native American tribe In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, tribal nation, or similar concept is any extant or historical clan, tribe, band, nation, or other group or community of Native Americans in the Unit ...

. Delois Chavis has been a leader in this effort; she grew up in Winton and said her parents and grandparents gave her a strong sense of Native American identity. As part of efforts to renew their people, she and other Chowanoke bought 146 acres of their former reservation land in Gates County, in an area known as Indian Neck. They plan to build a cultural center there to aid in revitalization of their culture.

References

External links

Marvin T. Jones, "A Chowanoke Family"
Roanoke-Chowan
Chowanoke Descendants Community

The Chowanoke Indian Nation
{{Authority control Extinct Native American tribes Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Algonquian peoples Native American history of North Carolina Algonquian ethnonyms Pre-emancipation African-American history