| Total population | |
|---|---|
| merged into Nottoway | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Virginia, United States | |
| Languages | |
| unattested Eastern Algonquian language | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Powhatan Confederacy, Nottoway |
The Weyanoke people (/ˈwaɪənɒk/ WYE-ə-nok1) were an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands.
Name
Their name is also spelled Weyanock,2 as British colonist John Smith recorded on his map.3 Alternative spellings include Weanoc,4 Weanock, Winauh, Winauk, Wynauh, and Wynauk.3 Their name may mean "at the bend" of a river,2 coming from either the Eastern Niantic or Nipmuck language.3
Territory
Their lands were located along the James River5 and west of the mouth of Appomattox River, near present-day Weyanoke, Virginia.4 Their main capital settlement was at Weyanoke Point in Charles City County, Virginia.2 Their second primary settlement was at the head of Powell's Creek in Prince George County, Virginia.2
History
At the beginning of the 17th century, when the Wyanoke had early contact with English colonists, the Weynock traded with Wahunsenacawh (Powhatan, c. 1547–c. 1618).6 Some historians consider them to have been part of the Powhatan Confederacy.5
Their population was 500 in 1608.5 After attacks by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at the end of the 17th century, they were forced to flee. They signed the Treaty of Middle Plantation with the Virginia Colony in 1677.
Remnants of the Weyanock and the Nansemond were merged into the Nottoway in the early 18th century.7
By 1727, they lived along the Nottoway River.5At the end of the 18th century, the Weyanock merged completely into the Nottoway, with the surnames Wynoake and Wineoak occasionally appearing on public documents.8
Notes
Notes
- "Virginia's First People: The Weyanoke—A World of Water and Land". YouTube. November 10, 2017. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia, 9.
- Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia, 154.
- Swanton, John Reed (1952). The Indian Tribes of North America. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company. p. 70. ISBN 9780806317304.
{{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help) - Hodge, Handbook of North American Indians, 926.
- Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia, 111.
- Rountree, "The Termination and Dispersal of the Nottoway Indians of Virginia," 194.
- Rountree, "The Termination and Dispersal of the Nottoway Indians of Virginia," 199.
References
References
- Hodge, Frederick W. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, DC.: Government Printing Press, 1912.
- Rountree, Helen C. (2013). The Powhatan Indians of Virginia: Their Traditional Culture. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 9780806176864.
- Rountree, Helen C. (April 1987). "The Termination and Dispersal of the Nottoway Indians of Virginia". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 95 (2): 193–214. JSTOR 4248941.