 The <unk> were the historic indigenous people of the area now known as Tidewater in Virginia at the time of European encounter . Little is known about them but archeological evidence suggests they may have been related to the Carolina Algonquian , or Pamlico people . They would have spoken one of the Algonquian languages . These were common among the numerous tribes of the coastal area , who made up the loose Powhatan Confederacy , numbering in the tens of thousands in population . The <unk> occupied an area which is now defined as the independent cities of Norfolk , Portsmouth , Chesapeake , and Virginia Beach . 
