The Catawba are also known as Essaw or Issa, "People of the River", the River in question being the present-day Catawba River. The Iroquois, their constant enemy referred to them and other Siouan-speaking tribes in the area as Tutelo. The competed with the Iroquois, as well as the Shawnee and Delaware for hunting range in the Ohio Valley, and with the Cherokee for territory in the Carolinas. The Catawba also competed with the Cherokee and the Iroquois for rights to use the Great Warriors Path to access their hunting grounds. Eventually, the Catawba and the Cherokee agreed to the Broad River in South Carolina as their boundary. The Iroquois would continue to dispute the Catawba's right to use the Path, despite the intervention of the Colonial legislatures of New York and Virginia. The Catawba had a reputation as fierce warriors, who would challenge any threat to their security or home range, chasing invaders deep into their ranges to make the point stick: leave us alone. These forays took the Catawba into Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia in defense of their homes.
In 1738 and 1758, smallpox epidemics swept through the tribe, the outbreak in 1758 cutting their population almost in half. Warfare with various enemies also took its toll, though the Treaty of Lancaster in 1744 gave them a respite from the Iroquois, who set the Ohio River as the boundary of their hunting range and no longer disputed the rights of tribes further South along the Great Warriors Path to use it. But warfare with the Shawnee continued, unsettling life along the frontier until the time of the Revolution. South Carolina tried to solve part of the problem in 1763 by setting aside portions of land in Lancaster and York Counties, but the outbreak of the American Revolution (1775-1783), prevented the Catawba from dwelling peacefully on their land for long. During the brutal southern campaigns of the Revolution, which ravaged South Carolina and made Banastre Tarleton and Francis, Swamp Fox, Marion household names, the Catawba fled to Virginia. This was probably for the best, since the Catawba opposed the British, unlike their Cherokee neighbors, and were known to aid the Patriots. After the Revolution, they returned to the Catawba River and settled in two villages, Newton and Turkey Head, on either side of it.
By 1820 the surviving Catawba attempted to raise money to survive by leasing much of their land. In 1840, South Carolina made a treaty with the Catawba that ceded their land entirely to the state. As the treaty did not have federal approval, it was never enforced. White encroachment, though, had taken its toll. Some Catawba tried to join the Eastern Band Cherokee on their land in North Carolina, but finding relationships between the tribes still tense, they removed to Oklahoma and found refuge with the Choctaw living there. Others stuck it out in South Carolina, surviving as best they could. Like many Woodlands tribes, they were used to making a living by farming and could survive on that when hunting was scarce or no longer available. Smaller, primarily Sioan-speaking tribal remnants in the area banded with the Catawba in order to survive. In the 19th centuries, Catawba women became well-known for their pottery, which also provided income.
In the 1940's, the Catawba began the process required for federal recognition as an Indian Tribe, which they achieved in 1941. They created a written Constitution in 1944. They were granted state citizenship, but denied the right to vote until the 1965 Voting Rights Act allowed them that right in federal and state elections. In the 1950's, the federal government terminated recognition of the Catawba along with several other tribes throughout the country in an effort to encourage them to assimilated to White society. They began the long struggle to regain federal recognition, which they did in 1993. Like many tribes, they were able to sustain themselves through gaming rights. As of the 2010 census, some 3,370 people claimed total or partial Catawba ancestry.
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