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Secotan [1]

Secotan

by William S. Powell, 2006 A watercolor drawing of the village of Secotan prepared by John White from observations he made in 1585-86 while a member of the Ralph Lane expedition. Trustees of the British Museum.

Secotan was a large village of Algonquian-speaking Indians that was encountered in July 1585 along both banks of the Pamlico River [2] by Sir Richard Grenville [3], an explorer sent by Sir Walter Raleigh [4]. The village was documented in a detailed watercolor drawing by John White [5] in 1585-86. Titled "Indian Village of Secotan [6]," the drawing depicts a well-ordered village with family units, storehouses, fields with growing crops, and individuals performing different tasks. In 1690, Bath [7], the first town of English settlers in North Carolina, was established in the vicinity of Secotan, which had been abandoned by the Indians.

References:

Paul Hulton and David B. Quinn, The American Drawings of John White, 1577-1590, vol. 1 (1964).

Quinn, The Roanoke Voyages, 1584-1590 (2 vols., 1955).

Douglas L. Rights, The American Indian in North Carolina (2nd ed., 1957).

Subjects:

Precolonial period (pre-1600) [8]

Colonial period (1600-1763) [9]

American Indians [10]

Authors:

Powell, William S. [12]

Origin - location:

Beaufort County [13]

Bath [14]

From:

Encyclopedia of North Carolina, University of North Carolina Press. [15]

1 January 2006 | Powell, William S.

Source URL: http://ncpedia.org/secotan

Links:
[1] http://ncpedia.org/secotan
[2] http://www.pamlicoriver.org/
[3] http://www.famous-explorers.com/famous-english-explorers/sir-richard-grenville/
[4] http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/raleigh_walter.shtml
[5] http://www.biography.com/people/john-white-9529444
[6] http://www.virtualjamestown.org/images/white_debry_html/plate35.html
[7] http://ncpedia.org/geography/bath
[8] http://ncpedia.org/category/subjects/prehistory
[9] http://ncpedia.org/category/subjects/colonial-period
[10] http://ncpedia.org/category/subjects/american-indian
[11] http://ncpedia.org/category/subjects/unc-press
[12] http://ncpedia.org/category/authors/powell-william-s-0
[13] http://ncpedia.org/category/origin-location/coastal-22
[14] http://ncpedia.org/category/origin-location/coastal-46
[15] http://ncpedia.org/category/entry-source/encyclopedia-