Total population | |
---|---|
extinct | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States ( South Carolina) | |
Languages | |
unknown, possibly an Eastern Siouan language[1] | |
Religion | |
Native American religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
probably Catawba people[1] |
The Wateree were a Native American tribe in the interior of the present-day Carolinas. They probably belonged to the Siouan-Catawba language family. First encountered by the Spanish in 1567 in Western North Carolina, they migrated to the southeast and what developed as South Carolina by 1700, where English colonists noted them.
There they had settled along the Wateree River, near the site of what developed as present-day Camden, South Carolina. Originally a large tribe, they suffered high mortality during the Yamasee War of 1715. By the middle of the 18th century, they joined with the Catawba nation and lived near the modern Catawba Reservation.