ies of the Mississippian culture fell apart and reformed as new groups, such as the Catawba, due to a series of destabilizing events known as the "Mississippian shatter zone". Introduction of colonial trading arrangements and hostile native groups from the north such as the Westo Indians hastened changes in an already tenuous regional hierarchy. As described by anthropologist Robbie Ethridge, the Mississippian shatter zone was a time of great instability in what is now the American South, caused by the instability of Mississippian chiefdoms, high mortality from new Eurasian diseases, conversion to an agricultural society and the accompanying population increase, and the emergence of Native "militaristic slaving societies". Historically documented tribes in the North Carolina region include the Carolina Algonquian-speaking tribes of the coastal areas, such as the Chowanoc, Roanoke, Pamlico, Machapunga, and Coree, who were the first encountered by the English; the Iroquoian-speaking Meherrin, Cherokee, and Tuscarora of the interior; and Southeastern Siouan-speaking tribes, such as the Cheraw, Waxhaw, Saponi, Waccamaw, Cape Fear Indians, and Catawba of the Piedmont. In the late 16th century, the first Spanish explorers traveling inland recorded meeting Mississippian culture people at Joara, a regional chiefdom near what later developed as Morganton. Records of Hernando de Soto attested to his meeting with them in 1540. In 1567, Captain Juan Pardo led an expedi