Nansemond

Nansemond

Members of the Nansemond tribe at First Landing State Park in 2007
Total population
Enrolled members 200
Regions with significant populations
Virginia
Languages
English, Algonquian (historical)
Religion
Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Monacan, Chickahominy, Mattaponi

Enrolled members

The Nansemond have been recognized as a Native American tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia, along with ten other Virginia Indian tribes. They are not federally recognized but are one of six Virginia tribes without reservations that are included in a bill for federal recognition under consideration by the United States Congress.

Most members of the tribe live in the Suffolk/Chesapeake, Virginia area. At the time of European encounter, the historic Nansemond tribe spoke one of the Algonquian languages.

The Nansemond were members of the Powhatan chiefdom. They lived along the Nansemond River, an area they called Chuckatuck. In 1607, when English people arrived to settle at Jamestown, the Nansemond were initially wary.

In 1608, the English raided one of the Nansemond towns, burning houses and destroying canoes to force the people to give corn to the settlers.Captain John Smith and his men demanded 400 bushels of corn or threatened to destroy the village, remaining canoes, and houses. The tribe agreed, and Smith and his men left with most of the tribe's corn supply. They returned the following month for the rest, which left the tribe in bad shape for the winter. Relations between the English and the Nansemond deteriorated further in 1609 when the English tried to gain control of Dumpling Island, where the head chief lived and where the tribe's temples and sacred items were kept. The English destroyed the burial sites of tribal leaders and temples. Houses and religious sites were ransacked for valuables, such as pearls and copper ornaments, that were buried with the bodies of leaders. By the 1630s, the English began to move into Nansemond lands, with mixed reactions.

John Basse, an early settler in Virginia, married Elizabeth, the daughter of the King of the Nansemond Nation in Holy Baptism and in Holy Matrimony August 14, 1638. Bass was born 7 September 1616; died 1699.