Native+Americans

** Algonquin Tribes **
==== The Algonquin tirbes lived along the Atlantic coast which is today Maine down to North Carolina. These groups consisted of the Chowanoc and the Pasquotank Indians who lived north﻿ of the Albemarle Sound. Like all native peoples, they took advantage of thier environment such as fish taken from the sea and sounds. A white visitor reported that they ate all kindes of fruits such as﻿ melons, walnuts, cucumbers, gourdes, pease, and diverse roots. ====

The Tuscarora
==== ﻿The Coastal Plain was dominated in the 1500s by one tribe, the Tuscarora. This group had 15 large villages, each with about 300 to 500 people, concentrated near the Neuse and Tar rivers. The name Tuscarora means "hemp gatherers." (The Indians used hemp to make rope and binding cord.) The Tuscarora were kin to the Iroquois nation of New York who possibly came south in the 1400s. A chief of the Iroquois said of the Tuscarora, "They were of us and went from us long ago." An early explorer noted that the Tuscarora had flat bodies. Tuscarora children "were laced down to a board in their infancy" to give them correct posture.One English explorer claimed their legs and feet were "the handsomest in the world." ====

The Catawba
==== In the rolling hills of the Piedmont lived more than a dozen different groups who had many names. The largest group came to be the Catawba-- a name given to them by Juan Pardo--because he heard them say something that sounded like ka pa tu, meaning that they lived "where the rivers divides." Some of the Catawba actually called themselves is wa, "the people who lived on the river." They were distinguished by the burnt-black pottery they made out of the various clays they found in the area in which they lived. In the 1500s, a lot of groups moved back and forth across the hilly Piedmont. The Sapona spent decades concentrated on the Yadkin River at one of its fords. In 1700, John Lawson visted the Sapona. The Occaneechi lived near the present site of Hillsborough and were known to be miners in the Unwharries. The tribes in the Piedmont spoke languages that sounded much alike, regardless of what they were called. They spoke various versions of Sioux language. The Sioux had lived in the northern areas of what became the United States. The sioux were forced to migrate because of a lack of resources, some went south and the others west. The Catawba were distantly kin to the more famous Sioux tribes of the Great Plains. ====

** The Cherokee **
==== The Cherokee have been the most famous Indian group in North Carolina history, for their size and location. The ancestors of the Cherokee lived in the upper stretches of the Ohio River. They were also kin to the Iroquois just like the Tuscarora. The Cherokee did not have good ralations with their northern kinfolk that the Tuscarora had. The Cherokee had been driven from their original homes after the long years of fighting with the Iroquois. The Cherokee first settled in the deep mountains during the height of the Woodland period. The Cherokee called themselves another name like the Catawba. They called themselves yun wi ya, "the people" or "the principal people." The word Cherokee may be a variation of a Mississippian word for "people who live in caves," a reference of their mountain homes. The Cherokee controlled a mountain region of 40,000 square miles. The Cherokee were one of the largest tribes in what became the United States. They have numbered more than 30,000 during the late Woodland period. They had three distinct divisions; the upper, lower, and middle Cherokee. Each of the three principal groups spoke a different dialect of the Cherokee language. The Cherokee lacked clay to make much pottery. Instead, they stored many items in intricately woven baskets made of strips of tender branches. Cherokee baskets have been some of the most beatiful works of art made by North Carolinians. ====