Hatteras Indians
The Hatteras Indians were a tribe of Native Americans in the United States who lived in the North Carolina Outer Banks.[2] They inhabited a village on what is now called Hatteras Island[1] called Croatoan.[2]
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Extinct as a tribe in the late 18th century[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| North Carolina | |
| Languages | |
| an Eastern Algonquian language | |
| Religion | |
| Native American religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Eastern Algonquian peoples |
Name
The name Hatteras was first used by the English explorer John Lawson. Lawson was writing a book where he mentioned the Hatteras Indians for the first time. Although the meaning of Hatteras is unknown,[1] the people from that island were known as "the people of shallow water". John Lawson believed that they may have been the Croatans.[1][3]
History
The Hatteras first had contact with English settlers, notably John White, in 1587, and were gone by the mid-18th century.[2]
In 1701, their population was estimated to be 80 people.[1][4] During the 1711 Tuscarora War, the Hatteras Indians sided with the colonists and fought against the Tuscarora tribe and their allies for the colonists. This cost them heavily and many were driven from their lands by enemy tribes.[5]
Some descendants of the Hatteras Indians may be part of the Lumbee Indians.[6]
Language
The Hatteras Indians spoke a language in the Algonquian language family.[1]
Notes
- John Reed Swanton, The Indian Tribes of North America, 80.
- Harrison, Molly (August 1, 2003). Exploring Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout National Seashores. Globe Pequot Press. pp. 11–12. ISBN 978-0762726097.
- Dumbar, Gary."The Hatteras Indians of North Carolina", "Ethnohistory", 1960, DOI:10.2307/480877
- Lewis, J.D."The Hatteras Indians", "Carolina: The Native Americans", South Carolina, 2007.
- Michael Leroy Oberg (2013), The Head in Edward Nugent's Hand: Roanoke's Forgotten Indians, University of Pennsylvania Press, ISBN 978-0812203417, retrieved 2015-03-28,
…In 1711, the conflict known as the Tuscarora War began… The Hatteras, who "always had been friendly with the whites… and cherished friendship with the English because of their affinity," fought for the colonists against the Tuscaroras and their allies. By 1714 the Hatteras were refugees…
- "Hatteras Tribe","Native Language of the Americas", 1998.
References
- Swanton, John Reed (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. Genealogical Publishing Com. p. 80. ISBN 9780806317304.