The North Carolina coast when the English began
colonization in the 1580s. This drawing is by Theodor de
Bry.
Algonquian Agriculture
by John Neville*
English explorers first reached what are
now North Carolina shores in the 1580s. They
encountered a sophisticated Indian civilization
based on agriculture. Many of the plants
produced by farmers today were cultivated by
Native Americans long before Europeans
came to the New World.
The Algonquian Indians living along the
coast enjoyed a variety of things to eat. The
major source of food came from crops they
raised in fields near their villages. They did not
have domesticated animals like horses, oxen,
cows, and pigs because none of these animals
were native to America. Without horses or
oxen to help them plow the fields and
transport items for trade, Native Americans
had to perform these duties themselves. The
absence of cows and pigs also meant that
Indians obtained meat for their meals by
hunting deer, quail, and bear in the nearby
forest and by fishing in the rivers and sounds.
The English carefully noted the plants
raised by the Algonquians. They not only
welcomed the food, but they also valued some
crops as sources of income. Two plants in
particular interested the English, uppowoc
[tobacco] and maize [corn].
Tobacco played an important role in the
religious life of Native Americans. They also
used it as a medicine. Indians grew tobacco in
small patches, dried the leaves, and then
ground them into powder. Indians smoked
tobacco in clay pipes and believed it would rid
their bodies of disease. They also thought
tobacco pleased their gods. Indians occasion¬
ally sacrificed tobacco powder on sacred fires.
To protect themselves from storms while they
fished, Indians cast tobacco either into the air
or onto the water to pacify the gods.
Maize was the most important crop
cultivated by Native Americans. The taste and
potential value of maize impressed English
explorers. Thomas Harriot, one of these
explorers, described maize as
grain . . . about the bignesse of our ordinary English
peaz, and not much different in forme and shape: but
of divers colours: some white, some red, some yellow,
and some blew. . . .
Harriot recorded the methods the Indians
used to plant maize and other crops. Indians
farmed their fields until the soil's fertility gave
out. Then they cleared new fields. The
Indians, however, did not move their villages
when they changed fields. Eventually they
could reuse old fields that had rested and
regained their fertility. Later English settlers
would copy these methods.
Harriot mistakenly claimed that the
Indians "never fatten with muck, dung, or any
other thing." In fact both the men and women
worked hard to prepare the land. They cleared
it by the "slash and burn" method. First they
burned down the trees, but they left the roots
to decay. The men used long, wooden
instruments similar to hoes, and the women
used short, wooden "peckers" or "parers" to
remove weeds, grass, old cornstalks, and other
obstacles. These materials dried in the sun
until the Indians were ready to burn them.
This provided some fertilizer to "fatten" the
land.
Native Americans next planted seeds in
rows. Four seeds were placed in a hole. Each
group of seeds was about a yard from the next.
The rows stood about a yard apart as well.
Between the rows of maize the Indians
planted beans, peas, melons, squash, or
2 ‘Executive Director, America's 400th Anniversary Committee.
