The Choptank (or Ababco) were an Algonquian-speaking Native American people that historically lived on the Eastern Shore of Maryland on the Delmarva Peninsula. They occupied an area along the lower Choptank River basin,"Choptank River Basin" , Dept of Natural Resources, Maryland, accessed 18 Mar 2010 which included parts of present-day Talbot, Dorchester and Caroline counties.Wayne E. Clark, "Indians in Maryland, an Overview", Maryland Online Encyclopedia, 2004-2005, accessed 18 Mar 2010 They spoke Nanticoke, an Eastern Algonquian language closely related to Delaware.Nanticoke Language, Native Languages of the Americas, accessed 18 Mar 2010Nanticoke Tribe, Native Languages of the Americas, accessed 18 Mar 2010 The Choptank were the only Indians on the Eastern Shore to be granted a reservation in fee simple by the English colonial government.Wayne E. Clark, "Indians in Maryland, an Overview", Maryland Online Encyclopedia', 2004-2005, accessed 18 Mar 2010 The Choptank were a subdivision of the Nanticoke.
History The name Choptank is thought to be from the Nanticoke word tshapetank: a stream that separates,Terry Plowman, "Native Americans of Delmarva" , Delmarva Millennium, Vol. 1, 1999, accessed 18 Mar 2010 or place of big current.Choptank River Basin , Dept of Natural Resources, Maryland, accessed 18 Mar 2010
The Algonquian-speaking Choptank were independent, but they were related in culture and language to the Nanticoke, a powerful country immediately to their south, which was dominant on the Eastern Shore.Wayne E. Clark, "Indians in Maryland, an Overview", Maryland Online Encyclopedia, 2004-2005, accessed 18 Mar 2010
The only Indian reservation which the English established in fee simple on the Eastern Shore was the Choptank Indian Reservation in 1669.Wayne E. Clark, "Indians in Maryland, an Overview", Maryland Online Encyclopedia, 2004-2005, accessed 18 Mar 2010 The territory included what later became the city of Cambridge,Cambridge Historical Marker the county seat of Dorchester County. The last town in Dorchester County occupied by the Choptank was Locust Neck Indian Town, which they left about 1790."Lower Choptank River Historic Site" , Choptank and Tuckahoe River Guide, accessed 18 Mar 2010
The U.S. Navy tugboat Choptank was named after the tribe. It served from 1918 until 1946."Choptank" - Naval History The towns of Choptank, Maryland, and Choptank Mills, Delaware,Placenames - Choptank Mills, Kent County, Delaware, U.S.A. are named after the river. Fictional members of the tribe are characters in the early chapters of James Michener's 1978 novel, Chesapeake.
See also Indigenous peoples of Maryland
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