Tutelo people

The Tutelo were a North American Indian tribe of the Sioux language family. They were closely related to the Saponi and possibly with the Monacan. Their traditional homeland was at today's town of Salem at the Big Sandy River in the U.S. state of Virginia.

History

1671 came the British Fallam and Batts near the present-day Salem on the Tutelo. A little later the Tutelo moved to an island in the Roanoke River. In 1701 they were found further south-west. The years they spent together with the Saponi. Again alone, they were down in 1771 at the Cayuga. Your village was destroyed in 1779 during the Sullivan Expedition. Due to the proximity to the Iroquois Cayuga they gradually lost their own language. The last Tutelo spokesman died 1898. The people of Tutelo went on in the Iroquois.

Demography

By 1600 there were about 2500 Tutelo. In 1700 they counted together with the Saponi, Keyauwee, Occaneechi and Shakori about 750 people.