North American Indian people of South Carolina, U.S. The meaning of the name Catawba, which seems to have been applied after European contact to several small bands of peoples in the region of the Catawba River, is unknown.
The peoples first encountered by Hernando de Soto subsisted principally by farming, harvesting corn, beans, squash, and gourds. Fish and birds were also staples of their diet. They traded bowls, baskets, and mats to other native groups and, later, to colonists. Each village was governed by a council presided over by a chief. After contact with European settlers, disease and other factors diminished their numbers rapidly. In the 2000 U.S. census some 1,700 people identified themselves as of sole Catawba descent.