Before European contact, there were over 30 tribes of native people who lived in present-day South Carolina. Europeans - first, the Spanish and then, the French - wrote about the native people and from these accounts we have knowledge of how native people dressed, lived, hunted, gathered food and interacted with their environment and their neighbors. The book describes how the native people lived and the vivid illustrations show how they dressed, hunted, cultivated crops, built their dwellings, made their canoes and hunting tools and participated in games and ceremonies, some of which are still practiced today. The authors stopped the story after first contact with the Europeans, who brought diseases, pigs, guns, knives, metal tools, rum and other things which greatly changed the culture and diminished the numbers of our native people.
First South Carolinians" is a professionally illustrated and presented resource book about the known tribes and groups of First Americans inhabiting the area of South Carolina from times beginning 40,000 years ago to the late 1600's and contact with European explorers. Groups under study include the Cherokee, divided into three groups of Lower Town, Middle Town and Upper Town, and Midlands region tribes such as Catawba, Cheraw, Congaree, Wateree, Waxhaw, Sugaree, and coastal groups such as the Cusabo, Sewee, Santee, Pee Dee, Waccamaw, Winyah, Wando and Sampit. Many more first South Carolinians existed, but not all their history is known due to European conquest and disease ravages of the initial colonial era. Initial descriptions of the first South Carolinians are taken from written records of early European explorers. Thus, accurate projected portraits of some of these people can be created, along with many representations of their accustomed games, weapons, farming and hunting practices, cultural celebrations, and more. ""First South Carolinians" is a fine missing puzzle piece to help present more accessible, accurate information about the daily lives of the first South Carolinians. A glossary and bibliography complete this excellent study which is recommended for students in grades 5 and up.