Choanoac
Hertford County, Hertford County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Choanoac. Principal village of the Choanoac Indians, led in 1580s by Menatonon, was 3 mi. east. Largest Algonquian group in N.C. at English contact.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Choanoac was the principal town of the Choanoac people, the largest Algonquian-speaking group in what is now North Carolina at the time of English contact. In the 1580s their leader Menatonon encountered the English explorers connected to the Roanoke ventures, making his nation part of the earliest recorded meetings between Native people and the English in the region. The village site lay about three miles east.
Why it matters
The Choanoac stood at the center of the first sustained contact between English newcomers and the powerful Algonquian nations of the Carolina sounds.
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Related people
- · Menatonon
Themes & tags
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