Chesapeake people

The name Chesapeake is an anglicisation of the Algonquian word, ''K'che-sepi-ack'', which translates as "country on a great river." The name for the Native American tribe is spelled many different ways, "Chesapian" is commonly used. In 1585, Ralph Lane used both "Chesapians" and "Chesapeaks",. John Smith's charts and writings also show variety but most frequently used "Chesapeaks". John White's illustrations used "Ehesepiooc". == Settlements ==

They occupied an area which is now the Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake and Virginia Beach areas. The main village of the Chesepian was Skicoak on the peninsula east of the Elizabeth River either on that river or near the Lynnhaven River. Two other Chesepian towns were Apasus and Chesepioc (Chesepiuc), both on the same peninsula in what is now the city of Virginia Beach. Chesepioc lay on Great Neck Point east of the Lynnhaven River. Archaeologists and others have found numerous Native American arrowheads, stone axes, pottery, and beads in Great Neck Point. Several native burials were found as well. == Language and affiliation ==

Although they spoke an Eastern Algonquian language like many tribes within the Powhatan Confederacy, archaeological evidence suggests that the Chesepian people originally belonged to another group, the Carolina Algonquian. == History ==

The culture of the Chesapians is called "Late Woodland" and they depended heavily on the resources of the Chesapeake Bay, notably the fish and shellfish. There is evidence that some of the survivors of the Roanoke Colony settled with the Chesapians after the failure of their settlement. In 1607, after the decimation by Powhatan, Though historians of the period express little doubt that the Powhatans eradicated the Chesapeake tribe, Strachey's belief that these rumored prophesies indicated the Christian God's intervention on behalf of the Jamestown Colony against "The Devil's Empire" appears, in hindsight, rather eccentric. ==References==