Neusiok Indians
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The Neusiok were an
Indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands, Southeastern cultures, or Southeast Indians are an ethnographic classification for Native Americans who have traditionally inhabited the area now part of the Southeastern United States and the no ...
in present-day
North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
. They were also known as the Neuse Indians.


Territory

The Neusiok lived along the southern banks of 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 N ...
, primarily in what are now Craven and Carteret counties.John Reed Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', p. 82. Their village, Chattooks, was near what is now
New Bern, North Carolina New Bern, formerly Newbern, is a city in Craven County, North Carolina, United States, and its county seat. It had a population of 31,291 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is located at the confluence of the Neuse River, Neuse a ...
.


Language

Their language is
unattested In linguistics, attested languages are languages (living or dead) that have been documented and for which the evidence ("attestation") has survived to the present day. Evidence may be recordings, transcriptions, literature or inscriptions. In cont ...
but may have been an Algonquian or
Iroquoian language 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, almost all surviving I ...
.John Reed Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America'', p. 82.


History

English explorers
Philip Amadas Philip Amadas (1550–1618) was a naval commander and explorer in Elizabethan England. Little is known from his early life, but he grew up within a wealthy merchant family in southwestern England. Amadas was instrumental in the early years of t ...
and
Arthur Barlowe Arthur Barlowe (1550–1620) was one of two English captains (the other was Philip Amadas) who, under the direction of Sir Walter Raleigh, left England in 1584 to find land in North America to claim for Queen Elizabeth I of England. His account ...
wrote about the Neusiok in their 1584 expedition. In one account,
Wingina Wingina ( – 1 June 1586), also known as Pemisapan, was a Secotan weroance who was the first Native American leader to be encountered by English colonists in North America. During the late 16th century, English explorers British colonizatio ...
,
Weroance Weroance ( e:ɹoanzor e:ɹoansor [we:ɹoəns">e:ɹoans">e:ɹoanzor [we:ɹoansor [we:ɹoəns is an Algonquian word meaning leader or commander among the Powhatan">Algonquian languages">Algonquian word meaning leader or commander among the Powha ...
of the Secotan (Roanoke tribe, Roanoke), explained his own tribal history, in relation to the Neusiok, his neighboring tribe, referred to as the "Neiosioke" by Barlowe. According to Wingina, the Secotans endured years of warfare with the Neiosioke, and "some years earlier," he met with the Neiosioke king, in an effort to ensure a "permanent coexistence." The two leaders arranged a feast between the two groups. An unspecified number of Secotan men and 30 women attended a feast in the town of Neiosioke. The Neiosioke ambushed the Secotans at the feast, and by the time fighting ended, the Neiosioke had "slewn them every one, reserving the women and children only."Stick, David (1983), ''Roanoke Island: The Beginnings of English America'', 36, 42, 50-51. In 1709, an estimated 15 Neusiok warriors survived. The tribes' population fell dramatically after contact, and survivors may have joined the
Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **'' Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...
.


Notes


References

* {{authority control Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Extinct Native American tribes Native American history of North Carolina Native American tribes in North Carolina Pre-statehood history of North Carolina Lenoir County, North Carolina Craven County, North Carolina Carteret County, North Carolina