Moneton

Moneton
Moneton
Moheton
Native to	United States
Region	West Virginia
Ethnicity	Moneton
Language family	Siouan Western Siouan Ohio Valley Siouan Virginia Siouan Moneton; ; ; ;
Language codes
ISO 639-3	None (mis)
Glottolog	None

Moneton
Total population
	>500
Regions with significant populations
	West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina
Languages
	Moneton language
Religion
	Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
	likely Manahoac and Monacan

The Moneton were a historical Native American tribe from West Virginia. In the late 17th century, they lived in the Kanawha Valley near the Kanawha and New Rivers.²

Name

Their name translates to "Big Water" people.¹

Territory

New River, a tributary of the
Kanawha River, in West Virginia source ↗

The Moneton lived in southern West Virginia, along the Kanawha River.¹ Their settlements were near the Manahoac, Moneton, and Tutelo, Siouan language–speaking tribes of Virginia.³

History

Locations of Shatteras, Monetons, Mohetans, and Conestoga (Susquehannocks) archeological sites in West Virginia. (Brashler 1987; Kent 2001) source ↗

The Moneton may have been a Fort Ancient culture,⁴ an Indigenous culture that thrived from 1000 to 1750 CE in the Ohio River Valley. They might have been related to the Shawnee, an Algonquian-speaking people.⁴

The first written mention of the Moneton was made by English settler Thomas Batts in 1671.¹

In 1674, English colonist Abraham Wood sent his servant Gabriel Arthur from Fort Henry near Appomattox, Virginia to visit local tribes to expand the fur trade. Wood visited them and described their capital as "a great town,"¹ That is the last contemporary mention of them.¹

They likely merged into other Siouan-speaking tribes in the Piedmont region of Virginia.¹

Language

The Moneton language was a Siouan language and likely related to the Manahoac, Monacan, and Ofo languages.¹

Associated Tribe

The Whitetop Nation

Notes

Swanton, John Reed (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-87474-092-9. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Demallie, p. 287
John R. Swanton, Indian Tribes of North America, p. 61.
Rice and Brown, West Virginia, p. 9.

References

Demallie, Raymond J. "Tutelo and Neighboring Groups." Sturtevant, William C., general ed. Raymond D. Fogelson, volume ed. Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast. Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. ISBN 0-16-072300-0.
Rice, Otis K.; Brown, Stephen W. (2010). West Virginia: A History. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky. pp. 9, 13. ISBN 9780813127330.
Swanton, John Reed (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. p. 74. ISBN 978-0-87474-092-9. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[swan74-1] Swanton, John Reed (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. U.S. Government Printing Office. ISBN 978-0-87474-092-9. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)

[2] Demallie, p. 287

[3] John R. Swanton, Indian Tribes of North America, p. 61.

[rice9-4] Rice and Brown, West Virginia, p. 9.

1

2

3

4