Moneton
Detail of map by Homann Johann Baptist
New River, a tributary of the
Kanawha River, in West Virginia
Total population
extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
West Virginia
Languages
Moneton language
Religion
Indigenous religion
Related ethnic groups
likely Manahoac and Monacan[1]

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] In the 1670s, Abraham Wood wrote their name "Moneton" and as another variant, "Monyton."

Territory

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)

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 in Wheeling, West Virginia to visit local tribes to expand the fur trade.[5] Arthur visited them and described their capital as "a great town,"[1] which might be Saint Albans or Buffalo, West Virginia.[5] 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

Moneton
Native toUnited States
RegionWest Virginia
Extinctlikely late 17th century
Language codes
ISO 639-3tta (as Tutelo)
GlottologNone

The Moneton language was an Siouan language and likely related to Manahoac, Monacan, and Ofo languages.[1]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 John Reed Swanton, Indian Tribes of North America, p. 74.
  2. ↑ Demallie, p. 287
  3. ↑ John R. Swanton, Indian Tribes of North America, p. 61.
  4. 1 2 Rice and Brown, West Virginia, p. 9.
  5. 1 2 Rice and Brown, West Virginia, p. 13.

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.
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