The
Wateree were a
Native American tribe in the interior of the present-day Carolinas. They belonged to the
Siouan-
Catawba language family. First encountered by the Spanish in 1567 in western North Carolina, they migrated to the southeast by 1700, where English colonists noted them. They had settled along the
Wateree River near what has become present-day
Camden, South Carolina. Originally a large tribe, they were diminished by the
Yamasee War of 1715 and became extinct as a tribe by the end of the century.