Description
The Cusabo were a tribe who lived along the coast in what is now South Carolina, between present-day Charleston and south to the Savannah River, at the time of European colonization. English colonists often referred to them as one of the Settlement Indians of South Carolina, tribes who "settled" among the colonists. Five of the groups were recorded by the settlers as having spoken a common language, although one distinctly different from the major language families known nearby, such as Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskogean, and Siouan. With the English settling on their land at Charleston beginning in the 17th century, the Cusabo developed a chafing relationship with the colony that persisted through the early 18th century. After the Yamasee War of 1715, also known as the Gullah Wars, surviving tribal members migrated to join the Muscogee or Catawba.
Language
The original Cusabo branch language spoken by the Ashepoo, Combahee, Escamaçu, Kiawah, and Etiwan, known as the Cusaboan has become extinct
Culture
The Cusabo could have lived inland year-round as the Catawba and Cherokee did but preferred to plant in the less fertile soil of the coast in order to be able to gather food there while the crops were growing. A 1682 account stated, "They did not dwell they in Towns, but in straggling Plantations; often removing for the better conveniency of Hunting." These two accounts indicate that the Lowcountry tribes were able to live safely in small, widely scattered groups for most of the year. Even in the summer their houses were in their fields rather than being in a town.