The Catawbas

112 pages: 25cm.

From the cover: "The Catawba - also known as Issa or Esaw, but most commonly Iswa - are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill. The Catawba were once considered one of the most powerful Southeastern Siouan-speaking tribes. The Catawba and other Siouan peoples are believed to have coalesced as individual tribes in the Southeast. Primarily involved in agriculture, the Catawba were friendly toward early European colonists. They were at almost constant war with tribes of other major language families: the Iroquois, the Algonquian Shawnee and Delaware, and the Iroquoian Cherokee, who fought for control over the large Ohio Valley (including what is now in present-day West Virginia).[1] They served during the American Revolutionary War with the colonists against the British. Decimated by earlier smallpox epidemics, tribal warfare and social disruption, the Catawba declined markedly in number in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The people ceded their homeland to South Carolina in 1840 by a treaty that was not approved by the United States and was automatically invalid. Terminated by the federal government in 1959, the Catawba Indian Nation reorganized and in 1973 began its struggle to gain federal recognition. It accomplished this in 1993, along with a $50 million settlement by the federal government and state of South Carolina of its longstanding land claims. It was also officially recognized by the state of North Carolina in 1993. Its headquarters is at Rock Hill, South Carolina."

Arranged according to the Library of Congress classification system.

This item is open for research use.

This item is available for access at the Catawba Nation Archives.

©1989 Chelsea House Publishers. All rights reserved. Requests for reproduction or use should be directed to the copyright holder.

• English
• Siouan Language

• Latin

Contains some words and phrases in Catawba.

No further accruals are expected.

Chelsea House Publishers, New York, NY.

Labeled Traditional Knowledge, Non-Verified (TK-NV): This Label is being used because there are concerns about accuracy and/or representations made in this material. This material was not created through informed consent or community protocols for research and engagement. Therefore, questions about its accuracy and who/how it represents the Catawba Indian Nation and/or the Catawba people are being raised.

2 copies.

Record created by Ensley F. Guffey, 2025 July 14.