The Hatteras Indians were a tribe of

Native Americans in the United States Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States ( Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United State ...

who lived in the

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

Outer Banks The Outer Banks (frequently abbreviated OBX) are a string of barrier islands and spits off the coast of North Carolina and southeastern Virginia, on the east coast of the United States. They line most of the North Carolina coastline, separating ...

. They inhabited a village on what is now called

Hatteras Island Hatteras Island (historically Croatoan Island) is a barrier island located off the North Carolina coast. Dividing the Atlantic Ocean and the Pamlico Sound, it runs parallel to the coast, forming a bend at Cape Hatteras. It is part of North Carol ...

called

Croatoan Croatoan may refer to: * Croatoan Island (now ''Hatteras Island'') on the Outer Banks of North Carolina * Croatan tribe, alternately spelled "Croatoan" *The word "Croatoan", found carved into a tree on Roanoke Island at the site of the Lost Colony ...

. They lived in a small village consisting of 80 people.

Name

The meaning of the name ''Hatteras'' is unspecified. It was first used by 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, the people from that island were known as "the people of shallow water". They are also known as

Croatans The Croatan were a small Native American ethnic group living in the coastal areas of what is now North Carolina. They might have been a branch of the larger Roanoke people or allied with them. The Croatan lived in current Dare County, an a ...

History

They first had contact with

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

, specifically John White. Settlers in 1587 and were gone by the mid-18th century. In the 1711

Tuscarora War The Tuscarora War was fought in North Carolina from September 10, 1711 until February 11, 1715 between the Tuscarora people and their allies on one side and European American settlers, the Yamassee, and other allies on the other. This was cons ...

, 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. Several people from the Hatteras Island area are of white ancestry. According to some historians after the tribe was colonized some of them affiliated with other tribes such as the North Carolina Algonquian and Siouan-speaking tribes, and survivors of the Roanoke colony. Some descendants of the Hatteras Indians may be part of the Lumbee Indians."Hatteras Tribe"
" Native Language of the Americas", 1998.

Language

The Hatteras Indians spoke a language in the Algonquian language family.

References

Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Eastern Algonquian peoples Extinct Native American tribes Native American history of North Carolina {{NorthAm-native-stub