The Roanoke (), also spelled Roanoac, were a Carolina
Algonquian-speaking people whose territory comprised present-day
Dare County,
Roanoke Island and part of the mainland at the time of English exploration and
colonization. They were one of the numerous
Carolina Algonquian tribes, which may have numbered
5,000–10,000 people in total in eastern North Carolina at the time of English encounter.
["Indian Towns and Buildings of Eastern North Carolina"](_blank)
''Fort Raleigh National Historic Site'', National Park Service, 2008, accessed 24 Apr 2010
The last known
chief of the Roanoke was believed to be
Wanchese, who traveled to England with colonists in 1584. However there is no evidence that Wanchese was ever the chief of the Roanoke People, just that he was influential within his tribe. The smaller
Croatan
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 ...
people may have been a branch of the Roanoke or a separate tribe allied with them.
History
The Roanoke may have had their capital on the western shore of
Croatan Sound
Croatan Sound is an inlet in Dare County, North Carolina. It connects Pamlico Sound with Albemarle Sound, and is bordered to the east by Roanoke Island; Roanoke Sound is on the other side of the island. Its name comes from the Croatan Indians wh ...
, at ''Dasamonguepeuk''. This was one of the significant towns noted by the English colonists in the sixteenth century.
Numerous place names were derived from the Roanoke.
See also
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Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically simi ...
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Algonquian peoples
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Croatan
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 ...
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European Colonization of the Americas
During the Age of Discovery, a large scale European colonization of the Americas took place between about 1492 and 1800. Although the Norse had explored and colonized areas of the North Atlantic, colonizing Greenland and creating a short t ...
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Colonial history of the United States
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English colonial empire
The English overseas possessions, also known as the English colonial empire, comprised a variety of overseas territories that were colonised, conquered, or otherwise acquired by the former Kingdom of England during the centuries before the Ac ...
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History of North Carolina
The history of North Carolina from pre-colonial history to the present, covers the experiences of the people who have lived within the territory that now comprises the U.S. state of North Carolina.
Findings of the earliest discovered human sett ...
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History of the United States
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Pre-Columbian Era
In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, ...
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Genocide of indigenous peoples
The genocide of indigenous peoples, colonial genocide, or settler genocide is elimination of entire communities of indigenous peoples as part of colonialism. Genocide of the native population is especially likely in cases of settler colonialis ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roanoke (Tribe)
Indigenous peoples of the Southeastern Woodlands
Algonquian peoples
Native American history of North Carolina
Native American tribes in North Carolina
Algonquian ethnonyms
Outer Banks
Roanoke Island
Extinct ethnic groups