The History of Islam and the American Indian Tribal Nation Known as the Weapemeoc

The History of Islam and the American Indian Tribal Nation Known as the Weapemeoc Scholars have suggested that sailors of the Ottoman Empire visited the Americas before Columbus, and they brought Islam to the native tribes. Other scholars reject this scenario. However the history of one American Indian Tribal Nation, the Weapemeoc, does show that Moors visited them before first contact with the English, and latter founded an Islamic tribe as part of the Weapemeoc Tribal Nation. This shows that Muslims did interact with native tribes of the Americas, and lends support to the idea that they also contacted other tribes. In North America first contact between natives and foreigners was often in the form of raids by merchant, pirates, and even the ships of foreign nations. The Weapemeoc and other tribal nations of coastal North Carolina were protected from such raids due to their location. The coast of North Carolina and the Albemarle Sound were protected by a string of small islands off the coast. While the shallow draft of native vessels could navigate them easily, sailing ships with a deeper draft had to proceed cautiously through this barrier. These barrier islands also drifted due to storms, so one had to be familiar with them to avoid problems. These barrier islands discouraged hit and run raids, so visitors were more likely to conduct peaceful trades. Pirates also made use of the Albemarle Sound, marrying into local tribes, thus gaining the right to live there and establish a base, just like the famous pirate Black Beard did. Membership in a tribe also gave them better deals on trade items. Tribes got access to foreign goods, and the protection of the pirates, so it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. The trade with pirates was noticed by outsiders during the colonial period as well; the Albemarle region came to be known in Virginia as “Rogues” Harbor [2]. When the Englishman Ralph Lane first explored North Carolina, he though he could trade worthless trinkets for valuable items, but soon learned other wise. As he noted in his writings [1] the natives were accustomed to foreigners and knew full well the value of their pearls. In Weapemeoc history, “Men from across the eastern waters” had been coming to their land for many generations before the English came. Most were traders or explorers, but a few stayed and lived with the tribes long before the English arrived to settle. Some who stayed had no choice as they were survivors of shipwrecks, or abandoned on land by the ship’s crew. Such visits from foreigners were becoming more common, and the Moors were one of the Weapemeoc most frequent trading allies and had a treaty with the Ottoman Empire. From them we learned a great deal about world events. News of Spanish atrocities also reached the Weapemeoc from tribes farther south. If Moors traded and intermarried with the Weapemeoc, an Algonquin Indian Nation, that supports the accounts that Moors traded and intermarried with other Algonquin tribes of the coast as well. By 1740 the Weapemeoc believed their best course of action was to sell their land and move west to find a new homeland. The Man’toUghQueMend tribe was the Principle tribe of the Weapemeoc at this time, and they were lead by the Sachems (Hereditary Chief/Monarchs) of the Laster line. Soon the Weapemeoc would enter Islamic history as “The Laster Tribe of Perquimans County North Carolina”. Around 1750 a Moorish Ship floundered off the coast of north carolina, and the crew took refuge with their old allies the Weapemeoc. The ships captian was a nobleman from Turkey and he fell in love with the daughter of the Massasoit Sachem (Principle Sachem) Laster II. The Turkish nobleman presented Sachem Laster with his Damascus Scimatar as a gift for the daughters hand in marriage, as was the custom at the time. That Scimatar has been passed down from Massasoit Sacham to Massasoit Sachem of the Weapemeoc Tribal Nation from that time forward to the present day. Because the Ships Captian was a nobleman, and married into the royal line of the tribe, he was entitled to start his own sovereign tribe, as part of the Weapemeoc. A number of his crew also married women from the tribes of the Weapemeoc, and they became the core of this new Islamic Tribe of our Nation. This Islamic Tribe of the Weapemeoc and their story was recorded by several historians [3, 4, 5, 6, 7], who called them “The Laster Tribe of Perquimans County North Carolina”. Over time some tribes of the Weapemeoc took in other tribes, and became tribal nations in their own right. The Islamic Laster Tribe is now part of the Sovereign Eire Mound Builders Tribal Nation of the Weapemeoc Confederacy [8]. The Chief of the Eire Mound Builders is Tecumseh Brown-Eagle. He is a direct decendant of the Laster line from the Islamic Laster tribe, and the cousin of Massasoit Sachem Charles A. Laster. So while the history of the Weapemeoc does not prove Moors beat Columbus to America, it does show they traded, intermarried, and founded new tribes in the Americas at an early date. [1] Ralph Lane Lane's Account of the Englishmen Left in Virginia 1585-1586 American Journeys Collection Wisconsin Historical Society Digital Library and Archives Document No. AJ-035 http://www.americanjourneys.org/pdf/AJ-035.pdf [2] History of the USA http://www.usahistory.info/southern/North-Carolina.html [3] Berry Brewton Almost White Social Science 1963 [4] National Genealogical Society Quarterly 1992 page 8 National Genealogical Society [5] Gilbert 1948 [6] Amir Muhammad Early History of Muslims in America http://www.muslimsinamerica.org [7] B. G. Trigger Handbook of North American Indians Northeast publisher [8] http://eriemoundbuilders.com/