The Arrohattoc, also occasionally spelled Arrohateck, was a Native American tribe from

Henrico County, Virginia Henrico County , officially the County of Henrico, is located in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 334,389 making it the fifth-most populous county in Virginia. Henrico County is incl ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The tribe was led by their chief Ashuaquid and was part of the

Powhatan Confederacy The Powhatan people (; also spelled Powatan) may refer to any of the indigenous Algonquian people that are traditionally from eastern Virginia. All of the Powhatan groups descend from the Powhatan Confederacy. In some instances, The Powhatan ...

. Their main village was located on the

James River The James River is a river in the U.S. state of Virginia that begins in the Appalachian Mountains and flows U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 to Chesapea ...

, the location of which is now the site of

Henrico, Virginia Henrico is the name used by the U.S. Postal Service for several ZIP code areas in unincorporated parts of Henrico County, Virginia, surrounding the city of Richmond, Virginia, Richmond. "Other acceptable cities" listed by the USPS for parts of Henr ...

. In 1607 the tribe came into contact with

Christopher Newport Christopher Newport (1561–1617) was an English seaman and privateer. He is best known as the captain of the ''Susan Constant'', the largest of three ships which carried settlers for the Virginia Company in 1607 on the way to found the settle ...

and John Smith, who were exploring the area with a small group of men associated with the

Virginia Company of London The London Company, officially known as the Virginia Company of London, was a division of the Virginia Company with responsibility for colonizing the east coast of North America between latitudes 34° and 41° N. History Origins The territor ...

. The group was given a warm welcome by the Arrohattocs, a reception that they enjoyed when they continued up the James River and arrived at another village, which was ruled over by Powhatan's son Parahunt. The tribe would also continue to help the settlers when their fort was attacked by hostile Indians later that same year. However, as time progressed relations between the Arrohattocs and English colonists deteriorated and by 1609 the tribe was unwilling to trade with the settlers. As the population began to dwindle, the tribe declined and was last mentioned in a 1610 report by the visiting

William Strachey William Strachey (4 April 1572 – buried 21 June 1621) was an English writer whose works are among the primary sources for the early history of the English colonisation of North America. He is best remembered today as the eye-witness reporter o ...

and by 1611 the tribe's Henrico town was found to be deserted when

Sir Thomas Dale Sir Thomas Dale ( 1570 − 19 August 1619) was an English naval commander and deputy-governor of the Virginia Colony in 1611 and from 1614 to 1616. Governor Dale is best remembered for the energy and the extreme rigour of his administration in ...

went to use the land to found

Henricus The "Citie of Henricus"—also known as Henricopolis, Henrico Town or Henrico—was a settlement in Virginia founded by Sir Thomas Dale in 1611 as an alternative to the swampy and dangerous area around the original English settlement at Jamestow ...

References

External links

Media: Indian Town of Arrohateck
at

Encyclopedia Virginia Virginia Humanities (VH), formerly the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, is a humanities council whose stated mission is to develop the civic, cultural, and intellectual life of the Commonwealth of Virginia by creating learning opportunities f ...

Algonquian peoples Powhatan Confederacy Native American tribes in Virginia Henrico County, Virginia {{NorthAm-native-stub

See also

References

External links