The Siouan Tribes of the East (Classic Reprint)

Excerpt from The Siouan Tribes of the EastWhen the French and English established their first permanent settlement, in America they found the whole country in possession of numerous aboriginal tribes, some large and powerful, others restricted to a single village and its environs. The variety of languages and dialects at first appeared to be well-nigh infinite; but on further acquaintance it was discovered that these were easily reducible, to a few primary stocks.Excluding the Eskimo along the northern coast, the first great group comprised the tribes of the Algonquian stock, whose territory on a linguistic map appears like a large triangle, extending on the north from the Atlantic to the Rocky mountains, but gradually narrowing southward until it dwindles to a mere coast strip in Virginia and North Carolina, and finally ends about the mouth of Neuse river.Tlie territory of the next great group, comprising the tribes of the Iroquoian stock, either lay within or bordered on the Algonquian area. Around Lake Erie and Lako Ontario, and stretching to a considerable distance inland on either side, wore the Iroquois proper, the Huron or Wyandot, and several other closely connected tribes; on the lower Susquehanna were the Conestoga or Susquehanna and their allies; on Nottoway and Meherrin rivers, in Virginia, were tribes bearing the names of those streams, and on the lower Neuse, in North Carolina, were the Tuscarora; while on the southwest, in the fastnesses of the southern Alleghenies, were the Cherokee, whose territory extended far into the gulf states. Although the territories held by the several Iroquoian tribes were not all contiguous, the languages, with the exception of that of the Cherokee, which presents marked differences, are so closely related as to indicate a comparatively recent separation.The country southwest of the Savannah was held chiefly by tribes of the Muskhogean stock, occupying the greater portion of Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi, with parts of Tennessee and Florida.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.