The First People

The First People. . (side 1) , The Ye Iswa (pronounced "yay ees-wahng" - "People of the River"), now known as the Catawba, inhabited the Piedmont area of North and South Carolina for at least six thousand years. They lived in villages surrounded by a wooden palisade that enclosed homes, storage buildings, a council house, and a public plaza. Although each town was independent of the others, they all shared a common culture., The Ye Iswa were a matrilineal society and families traced their kinship through the female line. The women planted corn, squash, and peas in large communal fields and gathered edible and medicinal plants, while the men hunted, fished, traded, and made war on other tribes. By the 1720s, war and disease had decimated some of the smaller towns, including the Wateree who lived near this spot, and the survivors joined with the more powerful Esaw (aka Iswa and Nassaw) families., (side 2) , Prior to contact with Europeans, the Catawba used the resources of the land around them for their homes, weapons, and clothing. After the European's arrived, the Catawba expanded their existing trade networks to acquire European goods like firearms, decorative items, and clothing., The people of the Ye Iswa towns created alliances with the European settlers against their traditional enemies, including the Cherokee and the Iroquois. They also acted as peacekeepers between the Europeans and other indigenous people, especially during the French and Indian War. During the American Revolution, Catawba men fought with the patriot armies throughout the southern colonies., Catawba women created the pottery by which the Nation is still known, participated in commerce, were protectors of their ancestral lands, and had a voice in all community decisions. After Pine Tree Hill (Camden) became a prominent trading center, Catawba women often journeyed here to trade their pottery for cash and European goods.