Description
Waccamaw Siouan Indians are one of eight state-recognized tribes in North Carolina. They are also known as the "People of the Fallen Star." They are considered to be Waccamaw, as are the Waccamaw Indian People, a state-recognized tribe from South Carolina. However, the two are not affiliated with each other. About 150 years later, the Englishman William Hilton recorded his encounter with ancestors of the Waccamaw Siouan people, calling them the Woccon. While the Waccamaw were never populous, the arrival of settlers and their diseases in the 16th century resulted in devastating population loss and dispersal.
Language
Siouan Woccon
Culture
The Waccamaw's relationship with European settlers was based on trade (including guns and enslaved people), alliances, aid, and friendship, yet was all the while marred by European-borne disease, displacement due to European settlement, hostility, and outright warfare. edentary villages have appeared in the area since at least 3,000-500 B.C., with maize being the staple crop of the area. Chiefdoms arose in the area from 1150-1200 A.D.