FAQ’s

A: Some scholars have traced the word to mean, “people on the edge (or bank) of a river,” or “people of the fork.” The tribal people called themselves yeh is-WAH h’reh, meaning “people of the river.” The colonists who came to trade began calling all the tribes along the Catawba River Valley by the name Catawba.

A: According to our stories, our ancestors have lived here since the world began. Archaeologists have confirmed that we have lived on these lands for more than 6,000 years. Artifacts and evidence of our ancestors can be found throughout the Piedmont of South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virgina. During most of these millenia our people existed as a confederacy bound by culture, family, diplomacy, and values. In our thousands of years on these lands, Catawbas created ways to live respectfully with each other, with other people, and with the non-humans we share these lands with.

A: Early colonial estimates of the Catawba population when settlers arrived are between 15,000-25,000. By 1760, the fourth smallpox outbreak in one hundred years brought the Catawba population to less than 1,000. By the early 1800’s, the Catawba tribe was made of fewer than 100 citizens.

A: Our ancestors have taught us that “land” is more than “property” and to this day “Catawba Land” remains a complicated topic. Traditionally and contemporarily, Catawbas are well travelled people with connections across the continent and the world and we have traditional values of honoring the land and People of everywhere we visit and live.

Today, there are three main categories of Catawba Land that are important to understand:

• Traditional Lands: Catawba traditional lands include South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, and beyond. Catawbas were and are well travelled people with relationships to far away lands.

• Trust Lands: The Federal Government holds certain lands “in trust” for tribal nations, conferring certain privileges and restrictions on tribal land. In general, tribes have sovereign control over their trust lands. Catawba Nation has hundreds of acres of trust land located in York County, South Carolina and Cleveland County, North Carolina. Catawba Nation’s Old Reservation and Green Earth Reservation are all classified as trust land.

• Service Area: According to the 1993 United States “Catawba Land Claim Settlement Act” Catawba Nation’s service area includes all of the state of South Carolina as well as multiple counties in North Carolina.

• Fee Simple Title Land: Just like any individual, corporation, or municipality Catawba Nation holds land privately that is subject to the taxes of the city, county, state, and federal governments.

A: Siouan.

A: The Catawba Indians have lived on their ancestral lands along the banks of the Catawba River dating back at least 6,000 years. Before European settlers arrived, it is believed that the Nation inhabited most of the Piedmont area of South Carolina, North Carolina and parts of Virginia. When other tribes were being moved west on the Trail of Tears in the mid-1800s, the state of South Carolina decided not to spend the money because the tribe membership was so low in numbers at the time that it was expected the Catawba would be extinct soon.

A: Pottery. Catawba Pottery is a tradition that has been alive for over 4,000 years with very few changes to the materials and processes used.