View source for Moneton

{{Short description|Historical Native American tribe from West Virginia}}
{{redirect|Monyton|the English archdeacon|Hugh de Monyton}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Moneton
| image            = 
| image_alt        = Detail of map by Homann Johann Baptist
| total            = extinct as a tribe
| total_year       = <!-- year of total population -->
| total_source     = <!-- source of total population; may be ''census'' or ''estimate'' -->
| total_ref        = <!-- references supporting total population -->
| regions          = [[West Virginia]]
| languages        = Moneton language
| religions        = [[Indigenous religion]]
| related_groups   =  likely [[Manahoac]] and [[Monacan people|Monacan]]<ref name=swan74/>
}}[[File:New-river-mountains-fog - West Virginia - ForestWander.jpg|thumb|[[New River (Kanawha River tributary)|New River]], a tributary of the<br/>[[Kanawha River]], in [[West Virginia]]]]
The '''Moneton''' were a historical [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribe from [[West Virginia]]. In the late 17th century, they lived in the [[Kanawha Valley]] near the [[Kanawha River|Kanawha]] and [[New River (Kanawha River)|New River]]s.<ref>Demallie, p. 287</ref>

== Name ==
Their name translates to "Big Water" people.<ref name="swan74">{{Cite book |last=Swanton |first=John Reed |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7BmTAAAAIAAJ&q=Moneton |title=The Indian Tribes of North America |date=1952 |publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office |isbn=978-0-87474-092-9 |language=en}}</ref> In the 1670s, [[Abraham Wood]] wrote their name "Moneton" and as another variant, "Monyton."{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}}

== Territory ==
The Moneton lived in southern West Virginia, along the [[Kanawha River]].<ref name=swan74/> Their settlements were  near the [[Manahoac]], Moneton, and [[Tutelo]], [[Siouan language]]–speaking tribes of [[Virginia]].<ref>John R. Swanton, [https://books.google.com/books?id=7BmTAAAAIAAJ&q=Moneton ''Indian Tribes of North America''], p. 61.</ref>

== History ==
[[File:Map of Native American locations in WV by county during the latter half of the 17th Century.png|thumb|Locations of Shatteras, Monetons, Mohetans, and Conestoga (Susquehannocks) archeological sites in West Virginia. (Brashler 1987; Kent 2001){{Full citation needed|date=September 2024}}{{better source needed|date=November 2023}}|left]]
The Moneton may have been a [[Fort Ancient culture]],<ref name=rice9>Rice and Brown, ''West Virginia'', p. 9.</ref> an Indigenous culture that thrived from 1000 to 1750 CE in the [[Ohio River Valley]]. They might have been related to the [[Shawnee]], an [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking people.<ref name=rice9/>

The first written mention of the Moneton was made by English settler [[Thomas Batts]] in 1671.<ref name=swan74/> 

In 1674, English colonist [[Abraham Wood]] sent his servant Gabriel Arthur from [[Fort Henry (West Virginia)|Fort Henry]] in [[Wheeling, West Virginia]] to visit local tribes to expand the [[fur trade]].<ref name=rice13>Rice and Brown, [https://books.google.com/books?id=-GcC_XbfuUEC&q=Moneton ''West Virginia''], p. 13.</ref> Arthur visited them and described their capital as "a great town,"<ref name=swan74/> which might be [[Saint Albans, West Virginia|Saint Albans]] or [[Buffalo, West Virginia]].<ref name=rice13/> That is the last contemporary mention of them.<ref name=swan74/>

They likely merged into other Siouan-speaking tribes in the [[Piedmont region of Virginia]].<ref name=swan74/>

== Language ==
{{Infobox language
| name             = Moneton
| states           = [[United States]]
| region           = [[West Virginia]]
| extinct          = likely late 17th century
| ref              = 
| familycolor      = American
| fam1             = [[Siouan languages|Siouan]]
| fam2             = [[Western Siouan languages|Western Siouan]]
| fam3             = [[Ohio Valley Siouan languages|Ohio Valley Siouan]]
| fam4             = Virginia Siouan
| iso3             = none
| glotto           = none
| altname          = Monyton
| ethnicity        = Moneton
}}

The '''Moneton language''' was a [[Siouan language]] and likely related to the [[Manahoac language|Manahoac]], [[Monacan Indian Nation|Monacan]], and [[Ofo language]]s.<ref name=swan74/>

==See also==
* [[History of West Virginia]]
* [[Fort Ancient]]
* [[Prehistory of West Virginia]]
* [[Protohistory of West Virginia]]
* [[West Virginia Waterways]]

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* Demallie, Raymond J. "Tutelo and Neighboring Groups." Sturtevant, William C., general ed. Raymond D. Fogelson, volume ed. ''Handbook of North American Indians: Southeast.'' Volume 14. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004. {{ISBN|0-16-072300-0}}.
* {{cite book |last1=Rice |first1=Otis K. |last2=Brown |first2=Stephen W. |title=West Virginia: A History |date=2010 |publisher=University Press of Kentucky |location=Lexington |isbn=9780813127330 |pages=9, 13 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-GcC_XbfuUEC}}
* {{cite book |last1=Swanton |first1=John Reed |title=The Indian Tribes of North America |date=1952 |publisher=US Government Printing Office |location=Washington, DC |page=74 |isbn=978-0-87474-092-9 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7BmTAAAAIAAJ}}

{{Siouan languages|state=collapsed}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Extinct Native American tribes]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in West Virginia]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of West Virginia]]
[[Category:Extinct languages of North America]]
[[Category:Indigenous languages of the North American eastern woodlands]]
[[Category:Unattested languages of North America]]
[[Category:Western Siouan languages]]