USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Catawba Indians have lived on their ancestral lands along the banks of the Catawba River dating back at least 6000 years. Before contact with the Europeans it is believed that the Nation inhabited most of the Piedmont area of South Carolina, North Carolina and parts of Virginia.

Detailed explanation-2: -Traditionally, they lived along the Catawba River in South Carolina and North Carolina. Today, many Catawba live on a reservation in South Carolina. The Catawba Indian Nation is the only tribe in South Carolina that is recognized by the federal government. Like other Southeast Indian tribes, the Catawba were farmers.

Detailed explanation-3: -Religious Beliefs. In aboriginal times the Catawba were polytheistic, with the emphasis on the maintenance of harmony and balance among the various forces governing the universe. The Indians as a rule rebuffed Christian missionaries until the nineteenth century, when some of the Catawba became Baptists or Methodists.

Detailed explanation-4: -Their current lands are in South Carolina, on the Catawba River, near the city of Rock Hill. Their territory once extended into North Carolina, as well, and they still have legal claim to some parcels of land in that state.

Detailed explanation-5: -For more than 600 years, the foothills along the highway were home to Lower Towns, the term for the lands occupied by Cherokee tribes who settled in South Carolina and Georgia.