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Moneton
Historical Native American tribe from West Virginia From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Moneton were a historical Native American tribe from West Virginia. In the late 17th century, they lived in the Kanawha Valley near the Kanawha and New Rivers.[2]

Kanawha River, in West Virginia
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Name
Their name translates to "Big Water" people.[1] In the 1670s, Abraham Wood wrote their name "Moneton" and as another variant, "Monyton."[citation needed]
Territory
The Moneton lived in southern West Virginia, along the Kanawha River.[1] Their settlements were near the Manahoac, Moneton, and Tutelo, Siouan language–speaking tribes of Virginia.[3]
History

The Moneton may have been a Fort Ancient culture,[4] an Indigenous culture that thrived from 1000 to 1750 CE in the Ohio River Valley. They might have been related to the Shawnee, an Algonquian-speaking people.[4]
The first written mention of the Moneton was made by English settler Thomas Batts in 1671.[1]
In 1674, English colonist Abraham Wood sent his servant Gabriel Arthur from Fort Henry near Appomattox, Virginia to visit local tribes to expand the fur trade.[5] Arthur visited them and described their capital as "a great town,"[1] That is the last contemporary mention of them.[1]
They likely merged into other Siouan-speaking tribes in the Piedmont region of Virginia.[1]
Language
The Moneton language was a Siouan language and likely related to the Manahoac, Monacan, and Ofo languages.[1]
See also
Notes
References
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