The Pamlico (also ''Pampticough'', ''Pomouik'', ''Pomeiok'') were American Indians of

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 ...

. They spoke an Algonquian language also known as ''Pamlico'' or ''Carolina Algonquian''.

Geography

The Pamlico Indians lived on the

Pamlico River The Pamlico
, from the North Carolina Collection's website at the

in North Carolina. Named after them were

Pamlico Sound Pamlico Sound ( ) is a lagoon in North Carolina which is the largest lagoon along the North American East Coast, extending long and 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) wide. It is part of a large, interconnected network of lagoon estuaries that i ...

, the largest sound in North Carolina, and Pamlico County. They are one of the most southerly Algonquian tribes on the Atlantic seaboard and the most southerly ones for which scholars collected a vocabulary.

History

The Raleigh colonists referred to the Pamlico in 1585-86 by the name ''Pomoui''.

17th century history

In 1696,

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

, called "A great Mortality", devastated the Pamlico and neighboring Algonquian communities and reduced their populations. In 1701 the explorer John Lawson noted their Algonquian language and vocabulary (Lawson, 1860). By 1710 the Pamlico people were so limited that they lived in a single small village. By 1709 the total North Carolina Algonquian population was down to some 600 from at least several thousand at the time of English encounter. The

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 con ...

, 1711–1713, claimed more fatalities among the Algonquian allies than of the

Tuscarora Tuscarora may refer to the following: First nations and Native American people and culture * Tuscarora people **''Federal Power Commission v. Tuscarora Indian Nation'' (1960) * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language of the Tuscarora people * ...

. In the late stages, the Tuscarora turned on some of their allies. They likely incorporated some of the Pamlico as slaves. By the end of the century, only a handful of Algonkians remained. With the decrease in numbers came the loss of tribal lands. Thus, the Weapemeoc Indians sold their lands on

Albemarle Sound Albemarle Sound () is a large estuary on the coast of North Carolina in the United States located at the confluence of a group of rivers, including the Chowan and Roanoke. It is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Currituck Banks, a bar ...

in 1660 and 1662 and started to move to the interior. By 1697 they complained against the encroachments of white settlers in their new location. The English assigned a reservation on Bennetts Creek to the Chawanokes (Chowan) before 1700; they reduced its sized from 12 to by 1707; the Chowanoke sold off land in 1713. After the Tuscarora War, the Machapunga also were assigned to a reservation. Other groups on the Pamlico Sound joined either the

Machapunga The Machapunga are a small Algonquian language-speaking Native American tribe from coastal northeastern North Carolina. They were part of the Secotan people. They were a group from the Powhatan Confederacy who migrated from present-day Virgini ...

or the Tuscarora. With growing white presence in eastern Carolina, more products of European origin were introduced to the Indians. Guns were regularly used instead of bows and arrows during the eighteenth century. Iron hatchets had likewise replaced wooden clubs. English clothes were also widely used by the Indians. The Roanoke chief had an English-style house built in 1654. Other practices persisted through the nineteenth century, including the women making baskets of rushes and silk grass. They decorated them with woven-in life motifs.

18th century history

During the seventeenth century, the Chawanoke were in frequent and partly hostile contact with their Virginia Algonquian neighbors. Their traditional hostilities with the

Iroquoian The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian ...

Tuscarora continued during that tribe's war with the whites, when they were actively engaged in expeditions against the hostiles. The Machapungas and other tribes of Pamlico Sound, however, changed their alliances: before 1700 they were still at war with the Tuscarora and

Coree The Coree (also Connamox, Cores, Corennines, Connamocksocks, Coranine Indians, Neuse River Indians) were a very small Native American tribe, who once occupied a coastal area south of the Neuse River in southeastern North Carolina in the area no ...

, but in 1711 they sided with them against the English colonists. The Hatteras,

Weapemeoc The Weapemeoc Indians were a small Native American tribe from northeastern North Carolina. They lived on the north shore of Albemarle Sound. that was first noted in literature in 1585/1586. At that time, they approximately had 700 to 800 people. T ...

( Paspatank or Pasquotank,

Poteskeet The Weapemeoc Indians were a small Native American tribe from northeastern North Carolina. They lived on the north shore of Albemarle Sound. that was first noted in literature in 1585/1586. At that time, they approximately had 700 to 800 people. T ...

, Perquimans and Yeopim) Indians were at that time the most acculturated groups; they remained on the side of the English. Except for the

, there was little open fighting between the Algonquian and English colonists. They had suffered more from epidemics of infectious diseases. Due to small numbers, trade was of little importance. Sale of strong liquors to the Indians was probably the greatest problem created by white traders around 1700. Alcohol was banned from Indian towns in 1703, but the prohibition was never strictly enforced. Little was done for Indian education, even though native languages were being replaced by English during the eighteenth century. A small number of Indians were baptized as

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words '' Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρ ...

by Anglican ministers throughout the late seventeenth and the eighteenth centuries. Tribe members starting adopting English names (sometimes as second names to be used occasionally) shortly after 1700. Indian

medicine men A medicine man is a traditional healer and spiritual leader among the indigenous people of the Americas. Medicine Man or The Medicine Man may also refer to: Films * ''The Medicine Man'' (1917 film), an American silent film directed by Clifford S ...

earned money by treating white settlers as well as their own people. Some settlers in North Carolina bought Indians as slaves, and others transported them to northern markets. The extent of Indian servitude and slavery is not accurately known.

Culture

The Pamlico created distinctive

dugout canoes A dugout canoe or simply dugout is a boat made from a hollowed tree. Other names for this type of boat are logboat and monoxylon. ''Monoxylon'' (''μονόξυλον'') (pl: ''monoxyla'') is Greek – ''mono-'' (single) + '' ξύλον xylon'' (t ...

, and traveled extensively. Pamlico artifacts have been found as far away as the North Atlantic. They ate corn, fish, and other agricultural vegetables and fruits. Besides hunting and agriculture, the coastal groups still relied much on fishing and shellfish gathering, drying the products for preservation on reed hurdles over an open fire or in the sun. Sturgeon was not used as a food by the Indians along the coast. Cattle raising is documented for the Paspatanks around 1700 (Lawson 1709). The Tuscarora War disturbed the economic balance of many of the Algonquian groups: the fields of the Machapunga and their allies were destroyed by English colonists. The Hatteras were prevented from planting by their enemies, and in 1714-1715 needed supplies from the colonial authorities to survive. Political organization with hereditary

chiefdoms A chiefdom is a form of hierarchical political organization in non-industrial societies usually based on kinship, and in which formal leadership is monopolized by the legitimate senior members of select families or 'houses'. These elites form a ...

was still functioning around 1700. Chiefs' corpses were buried in the temples as before. Commoners could purchase the right of burial in the temple precinct with enough money. Shell beads (wampum) served as money, for example, to compensate victims of crimes.

Ceremonies

Marriage restrictions that prohibited marrying first cousins made it difficult to find mates within rapidly shrinking communities. Resulting marriages into other tribes certainly strengthened intertribal bonds. The ''huskenaw'' rite appears to have been used as an initiation for both boys and girls. It was held around Christmas and lasted for five or six weeks, during which the adolescents were separated in a special building outside the village. There were some colonial reports that two of 50 families among the Machapungas practiced male circumcision, but this was not typical of the Native Americans.

References

{{authority control Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands Algonquian peoples Native American history of North Carolina Native American tribes in North Carolina Pamlico County, North Carolina Algonquian ethnonyms