John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay watershed in 1608, and in 1673 colonists were still unfamiliar with the Chowan River watershed
Source: Library of Congress, Virginia (by John Smith, 1624) and Virginia and Maryland as it is planted and inhabited this present year 1670 (Augustine Herrman and Thomas Withinbrook, 1673)
"Nottoway" is an Anglicized version of "Nadowa," which means "rattlesnake" or "enemy." Evidently the English first learned of the Nottoway tribe through rival tribes to the north and east.
On the first English expedition to the Nottoway, Edward Bland was told by the Native Americans whom he met near the Roanoke River that the Algonquian-speaking Weyanokes who lived on on the James River tried to prevent the English from trading with the Iroquoian-speaking Tuscaroras:1
The Nottoway spoke an Iroquoian language, as did the neighboring Meherrin and Tuscarora. The Nottoway lived in loosely-allied towns, each commanded by an elected chief. That cultural pattern was similar to the Cherokee, another Iroquoian-speaking group with most towns west of the Blue Ridge.2
The Nottoway were separated from the Cherokee by the Siouan-speaking Catawba living in the Piedmont physographic province and other Native American groups to the south. The Nottoway were also separated from the five tribes of the Iroquian-speaking Haudenosaunee (Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas) to the north living near the St. Lawrence River, but the tribes stayed in contact with others who shared their culture and language through travelers and intermediaries.
the General Assembly established the Circle and Square reservation for the Nottoway tribe, but in 1824 the state legislature authorized dissolution of the reservation though allotment and sale of individual parcels
Source: Library of Congress, A map of the state of Virginia, constructed in conformity to law from the late surveys authorized by the legislature and other original and authentic documents (1859)
The Nottoway "circle and square" reservation in Southampton County was broken up and sold in the 1800's, but the Cheroenhaka (Nottoway) are restablishing their land base
Source: The Virginia-Pilot, Return of the Natives in Southampton County
the logo of the Nottowy Indian Tribe includes a longhouse typical of Iroquoian-speaking groups
Source: Virginia Humanities, Nottoway Indian Tribe
Source: Encycopedia Virginia, Encyclopedia Virginia's EntryPoint Presents: Telling Their Story: The Nottoway Indian Tribe of VA
Source: Virgina Humanities, Impact Story: Nottoway Indian Tribe of Virginia