The Weyanoke people ( ) were an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands.
Name Their name is also spelled Weyanock,Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia, 9. as British colonist John Smith recorded on his map.Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia, 154. Alternative spellings include Weanoc, Weanock, Winauh, Winauk, Wynauh, and Wynauk. Their name may mean "at the bend" of a river, coming from either the Eastern Niantic or Nipmuck language.
Territory
Their lands were located along the James RiverHodge, Handbook of North American Indians, 926. and west of the mouth of Appomattox River, near present-day Weyanoke, Virginia. Their main capital settlement was at Weyanoke Point in Charles City County, Virginia. Their second primary settlement was at the head of Powell's Creek in Prince George County, Virginia.
History At the beginning of the 17th century, when the Wyanoke had early contact with English colonists, the Weynock traded with Wahunsenacawh (Powhatan, c. 1547–c. 1618).Rountree, The Powhatan Indians of Virginia, 111. Some historians consider them to have been part of the Powhatan Confederacy.
Their population was 500 in 1608. After attacks by the Haudenosaunee Confederacy at the end of the 17th century, they were forced to flee. They signed the Treaty of Middle Plantation with the Virginia Colony in 1677.
Remnants of the Weyanock and the Nansemond were merged into the Nottoway in the early 18th century.Rountree, "The Termination and Dispersal of the Nottoway Indians of Virginia," 194.
By 1727, they lived along the Nottoway River. At the end of the 18th century, the Weyanock merged completely into the Nottoway, with the surnames Wynoake and Wineoak occasionally appearing on public documents.Rountree, "The Termination and Dispersal of the Nottoway Indians of Virginia," 199.
Notes
References Hodge, Frederick W. Handbook of North American Indians. Washington, DC.: Government Printing Press, 1912.