Croatoan Indians [1]
Croatoan Indians
[2]The Croatoan Indians were a tribal group of Carolina Algonquians who probably inhabited both present-day Hatteras [3] and Ocrac [4]oke Islands [4] at the time of the arrival of the English explorers and colonists sent by Sir Walter Raleigh [5]in the 1580s. Also called the Croatan, and later known as the Hatteras Indians, they were recognized as a distinct tribal group until the second half of the eighteenth century. Although they hunted and fished all along the northern Outer Banks [6] and in its surrounding waters, their fields and towns were originally located on the forested sound side of Hatteras Island between modern-day Buxton and Hatteras. Theodore de Bry's 1590 map [7] of Raleigh's Virginia showed three village symbols on Croatoan Island, now roughly the part of Hatteras Island that runs east to west. It is possible that the Croatoan also had a small habitation in the vicinity of present-day Ocracoke, then called "Wococon."
A scholar of Algonquian linguistics has suggested that the word "Croatoan" means "council town" or "talk town," which likely indicates the residence of an important leader and a place where councils were held. Archaeological remains of at least two other Croatoan villages have been located elsewhere on Hatteras Island. The Croatoan are best remembered today because the word " CROATOAN," carved in a post, was found by John White [8] in 1590 in his search for the famous Lost Colony [9].
The Croatoan's principal town, Croatoan, was possibly located at a site on Cape Creek that has been identified and partially excavated by archaeologists. Undoubtedly, some modern-day residents of coastal North Carolina can claim with considerable justification to be the descendants of the Croatoan/Hatteras and other Algonquians of over two and three centuries ago, but no recognizable tribal entities survive. The remains of a sizable Indian village on Cape Creek and Pamlico Sound near Cape Hatteras [3] have been discovered and to some extent explored by archaeologists under David Phelps [10]of East Carolina University [11]. In addition to artifacts of Indian manufacture, European trade goods have been recovered, giving added credibility to the recorded history of the Croatoan.
References:
F. Roy Johnson, The Algonquians: Indians of That Part of the New World First Visited by the English (2 vols., 1972).
David B. Quinn, Set Fair for Roanoke: Voyages and Colonies, 1584-1606 (1985).
David Stick, ed., An Outer Banks Reader (1998).
Image Credit:
Theodore de Bry Map, 1590. Courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Libraries. Available from http://www.library.upenn.edu/exhibits/rbm/kislak/promotion/debry4.html [2] (accessed May 22, 2012).
1 January 2006 | Evans, Phillip W.