Upon the arrival of European explorers in the 1500s, the Chowanoke (alternatively spelled "Choanoac") Indians were one of the strongest tribes in the region and maintained at least five towns along the Chowan River in present-day Bertie, Chowan, Gates, and Hertford counties. They resisted Europeans' encroachment onto their lands several times but lost a war in 1677. As a result, the British colonists seized large portions of Chowanoke land, reducing their territory to just six square miles along Bennett's Creek (modern Gates County) by the 1710s.

Deteriorating economic conditions forced the Chowanoke to sell several large portions of their reservation over the following decades, further decreasing their land holdings. In 1792, white North Carolinians illegally acquired the last remaining tract of the Bennett's Creek land grant, officially marking the end of the reservation.

Today, Chowanoke-identifying descendants work to secure state and federal recognition as the Chowanoke Indian Nation.

For more information and links to resources, please see our editorial statement on American Indian terminology.