who lived in south carolina before european settlers
History of South Carolina Divided roughly along the Santee River were the two main groups of Native American peoples-- Hokan Sioux (Ancestral Sioux) & the Cusaboan tribes. Relative to the Hokan were mostly the Waccamaw Siouan & the Sewee.[11] That being said, there were also the Wateree, Woccon & the Santee (not to be confused with the Dakota Santee of the west.) Hokan Sioux lived in a narrow, zigzagging region from modern day Ohio to the Carolina coast. Most of the region south of the Santee River was controlled by the Muskogean Cusabo tribes. North of the Sewee were the Croatan, an Algonquian nation related to the Chowanoke, Piscataway, Nanticoke & Powhatan further north. Many descendants of the Croatan survive among the Lumbee, who also took in many Siouan peoples of the region.[12] Deeper inland, other Muskogean tribes merged to form the Yamasee.[13] The lands of the Cherokee may have just grazed into the state, but they were set further back in Appalachia. In the 18th century, both the Yamasee & Cherokee merged with other tribes to form the Creek Confederacy,[14] who later fractured after conquering mush of the east coast. The Yamasee survive today among the Seminole.