Thomas Nairne

Thomas Nairne (died c. April 17, 1715) was a Scots trader and the first Indian agent of the Province of Carolina. He is best known for recording Native American customs and practices in the 1690s and 1700s, and for articulating visions and policies that guided colonial policy toward Indians. Apparently a settler in the failed Scottish colony of Stuarts Town (near present-day Port Royal, South Carolina), he traveled widely throughout the southeast, ranging as far as the Mississippi River, and served in the Carolina provincial assembly. He was tortured to death by Indians in April 1715 during the Yamasee War.