The Nauset people , sometimes referred to as the Cape Cod Indians , were a Native American tribe who lived in Cape Cod , Massachusetts . They lived east of Bass River and lands occupied by their closely related neighbors, the Wampanoag .
121-738: Although the Nauset were a distinct tribe from the Wampanoag , they often deferred to the authority of the Wampanoag chief sachem , and shared with the Wampanoag many similar aspects of culture, agricultural practices, and a common tongue, the Massachusett language . The tribe was one of the first to be visited by European explorers and colonists , who abducted some tribal members to sell into slavery in Spain and introduced diseases which reduced
242-661: A casino . The tribe has moved its plans to Taunton, Massachusetts , but their territorial rights have been challenged by the Pocasset Wampanoag Tribe of the Pokanoket Nation , an organization not recognized as a tribe . Massachusett language The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family that was formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts . In its revived form, it
363-505: A dialect continuum , with boundaries between languages and dialects softened by transitional speech varieties. Small differences existed between neighboring communities, but these increased with distance and isolation, and speakers from opposite ends of the continuum would have slightly more difficulties with inter-comprehension, but all the SNEA languages and dialects were mutually intelligible to some extent. Numerous dialects were lost during
484-559: A leptospirosis epidemic carried by rodents arriving in European ships dramatically reduced the population of the Wampanoag and neighboring tribes. Indigenous deaths from the epidemic facilitated the European invasion and colonization of the Massachusetts Bay Colony . More than 50 years later, Wampanoag Chief Sachem Metacom and his allies waged King Philip's War (1675–1676) against the colonists. The war resulted in
605-806: A "non-white" or "colored" community. Hutchins appeared to require unchanged culture, including maintenance of a traditional religion and essentially total social autonomy from non-Indian society." A project titled "Massachusetts Native Peoples and the Social Contract: A Reassessment for Our Times" began in 2015 to serve as an updated report on the cultural, linguistic, and economic state of Wampanoag peoples, including those from federally and non-federally recognized tribes. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe consists of more than 1,400 enrolled members who must meet defined membership requirements including lineage, community involvement and reside within 20 miles of Mashpee. Since 1924 they have held an annual powwow at
726-466: A 2010 study suggests that the epidemic was leptospirosis , introduced by rat reservoirs on European ships. The groups most devastated by the illness were those who had traded heavily with the French and the disease was likely a virgin soil epidemic . Alfred Crosby has estimated population losses to be as high as 90 percent among the Massachusett and mainland Pokanoket . Since the late 20th century,
847-474: A century. The project is training teachers to reach more children and to develop a curriculum for a Wôpanâak -based school. Baird has developed a 10,000-word Wôpanâak-English dictionary by consulting archival Wôpanâak documents and using linguistic methods to reconstruct unattested words. For this project she was awarded a $ 500,000.00 grant from the Macarthur Fellows in 2010. She has also produced
968-507: A confederation in which a head sachem presided over a number of other sachems. The colonists often referred to him as "king", but the position of a sachem differed in many ways from a king. They were selected by women elders and were bound to consult their own councilors within their tribe, as well as any of the "petty sachems" in the region. They were also responsible for arranging trade privileges, as well as protecting their allies in exchange for material tribute. Both women and men could hold
1089-728: A councilor for the prior six years during which the Marshall and Abramoff scandals took place – including voting for the shunning of tribe members who tried to investigate. A challenge to Cromwell's election by defeated candidates following allegations of tampering with voting and enrollment records was filed with the Tribal Court, and Cromwell's administration has been hampered by a series of protest by Elders over casino-related finances. The Mashpee Wampanoag tribal offices are located in Mashpee on Cape Cod. After decades of legal disputes,
1210-615: A deserted village, the Nauset being away at their winter hunting grounds. Desperately low on supplies, the Pilgrims helped themselves to a cache of maize, though they left a note (in English ) promising to pay for what they had stolen. The promise was eventually kept when the Nauset, led by Aspinet , returned months later. The Nauset also returned a small boy who had wandered away from the colony and become lost, an act which greatly improved relations with nearby colonists. In subsequent years,
1331-864: A failure. It appointed a supervisory committee consisting of five European-American members, with no Wampanoag. In 1834, the state returned a certain degree of self-government to the First Nations People, and although the First Nations People were far from autonomous, they continued in this manner. To support assimilation, in 1842 the state violated the Nonintercourse Act when it illegally allocated plots from 2,000 acres (8.1 km ) of their communal 13,000 acres (53 km ), to be distributed in 60-acre (240,000 m ) parcels to each household for subsistence farming, although New England communities were adopting other types of economies. The state passed laws to try to control white encroachment on
SECTION 10
#17327720372941452-576: A few decades before the first permanent English colonial settlement in New England at Plymouth. When the Pilgrims established their outpost, they were greeted in English by Samoset , originally an Abenaki of coastal Maine, and Tisquantum ('Squanto'), a local Wôpanâak, but both of their home villages were also wiped out by an epidemic caused by infectious agents unknown in the New World. Tisquantum
1573-481: A grammar, collections of stories, and other books. Mashpee High School began a course in 2018 teaching the language. Contacts between the Wampanoag and colonists began in the 16th century when European merchant vessels and fishing boats traveled along the coast of New England . Captain Thomas Hunt captured several Wampanoag in 1614 and sold them in Spain as slaves. A Patuxet named Tisquantum (or Squanto )
1694-450: A local stem * pere- and an ancient alternative stem for 'fish,' * -aᐧmeᐧkwa , likely Proto-Western SNEA * pīramākw /piːramaːkʷ/ . Although Nipmuc is close to Massachusett, it is conservative in that it retains more noun and verb finals that are truncated in most environments in other SNEA languages. The most defining feature of Massachusett in comparison to other SNEA languages is the outcome of /n/ in reflexes of PEA * r , itself
1815-640: A merger of Proto-Algonquian * r and * θ . Massachusett and its dialects always have /n/ and thus its classification as an SNEA N-dialect. This becomes /j/ in the Y-dialects of Narragansett, Eastern and Western Niantic and Mohegan-Pequot, /r/ in the R-dialects of Quiripi and /l/ in the L-dialect Nipmuc language. ^1 Only appears with diminutive as 'puppy,' more common word is náhtiá . ^2 Possibly Williams' recording of
1936-476: A seasonal round of fishing, planting, harvesting, and hunting. Southern New England was populated by various tribes, so hunting grounds had strictly defined boundaries. The Wampanoag had a matrilineal system, like other indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands , in which women owned property, and hereditary status was passed through the maternal line. They were also matrifocal ; when
2057-662: A ship at Plymouth. They were then sold as slaves in the West Indies . On August 12, 1676, colonial troops surrounded Philip's camp, and soon shot and killed him. With the death of Metacomet and most of their leaders, the Wampanoags were nearly exterminated; only about 400 survived the war. The Narragansetts and Nipmucks suffered similar rates of losses, and many small tribes in southern New England were finished. In addition, many Wampanoag were sold into slavery. Male captives were generally sold to slave traders and transported to
2178-530: A total of 4,500 Wampanoag descendants. Wampanoag activists have been reviving the Wampanoag language; Mashpee High School began a course in 2018 teaching the language. Wampanoag probably derives from Wapanoos , first documented on Adriaen Block 's 1614 map, which was the earliest European representation of the Wampanoag territory. The Wampanoag translate this word to "People of the First Light." Increase Mather first recorded it in 1676 to describe
2299-460: A week later. A Christian Indian accused three Wampanoag warriors of his murder. The colonists took the three captive and hanged them in June 1675 after a trial by a jury of 12 colonists and six Christian Indians. This execution, combined with rumors that the colonists wanted to capture Philip, was a catalyst for war. Philip called a council of war on Mount Hope. Most Wampanoag wanted to follow him, except
2420-539: A young couple married, they lived with the woman's family. Women elders could approve selection of chiefs or sachems . Men acted in most of the political roles for relations with other bands and tribes, as well as warfare. Women passed plots of land to their female descendants, regardless of their marital status. The production of food among the Wampanoag was similar to that of many American Indian societies, and food habits were divided along gender lines. Men and women had specific tasks. Women played an active role in many of
2541-656: Is a Southern New England Algonquian language. Prior to English contact in the 17th century, the Wampanoag numbered as many as 40,000 people living across 67 villages composing the Wampanoag Nation. These villages covered the territory along the east coast as far as Wessagusset (today called Weymouth ), all of what is now Cape Cod and the islands of Natocket and Noepe (now called Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard ), and southeast as far as Pokanocket (now Bristol and Warren , Rhode Island ). The Wampanoag lived on this land for over 12,000 years. From 1615 to 1619,
SECTION 20
#17327720372942662-440: Is also very likely to have been interchangeable in some dialects. The majority of the people of Nati ck also mainly used the older variant despite Eliot using the alternate form in his translations. This may be explained by the fact that the original settlers of Natick were Massachusett people from Neponse t , but after King Philip's War, the community attracted many Nipmuc whose dialects generally prefer /-ək/ . As Eliot employed
2783-793: Is in the Eastern branch of Algonquian languages , which comprises all the known Algonquian languages spoken from the Canadian Maritimes southward to the Carolinas. Within the Eastern divisions, Massachusett clusters with the Southern New England Algonquian (SNEA) languages. If considered a dialect of SNEA, it is an SNEA 'N-dialect.' Other Eastern language divisions include the Abenakian languages spoken to
2904-518: Is increasing. Until the end of the 17th century, Massachusett was a locally important language. In its simplified pidgin form, it was adopted as a regional lingua franca of New England and Long Island. As a native language, its dialects were spoken by several peoples inhabiting the coastal and insular regions of Massachusetts, adjacent portions of northern and southeastern Rhode Island, and portions of southeastern and coastal New Hampshire, with transitional dialects historically extending as far north as
3025-583: Is spoken in four Wampanoag communities. The language is also known as Natick or Wôpanâak (Wampanoag), and historically as Pokanoket , Indian or Nonantum . The language is most notable for its community of literate Native Americans and for the number of translations of religious texts into the language. John Eliot 's translation of the Christian Bible in 1663 using the Natick dialect, known as Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God ,
3146-510: The /-ət/ alone is not diagnostic of Massachusett. The traditional method of referring to the language was simply hettꝏonk ( hutuwôk ) /hətəwãk/ , 'that which they [can] speak to each other' Dialects or languages that were harder to understand were siogontꝏwaonk ( sayakôtuwâôk ) /sajakãtəwaːãk/ , 'difficult language', contrasting with penꝏwantꝏaog ( peen8wôtuwâôk ) /piːnuːwãtəwaːãk/ , 'foreign' or 'strange language.' When needed to refer to specific people or places,
3267-466: The /-ət/ form in his translations, this form spread as the 'standard' in writing. Many instances seem to have been standardized by colonial mapmakers and Indian translators themselves. For instance, the colonists referred to a hill that once existed as Hassunek or Hassunet Hill, but the name survives today as Assone t Street in Worcester. Similarly, Asnacome t Pond, in a formerly Nipmuc-language area,
3388-646: The Mohegans defeated the Narragansetts in a war with support from the colonists, and they became the dominant tribe in southern New England. After 1650, John Eliot and other Puritan missionaries sought to convert local tribes to Christianity, and those that converted settled in 14 Praying towns . Eliot and his colleagues hoped that the Indians would adopt practices such as monogamous marriage, agriculture, and jurisprudence. The high levels of epidemics among
3509-702: The Nauset on Cape Cod and the small groups on the offshore islands. Allies included the Nipmuc, Pocomtuc, some Pennacook , and eastern Abenaki from farther north. The Narragansett remained neutral at the beginning of the war. On June 20, 1675, some Wampanoag attacked colonists in Swansea, Massachusetts , and laid siege to the town. Five days later, they destroyed it completely, leading to King Philip's War . The united tribes in southern New England attacked 52 of 90 colonial settlements and partially burned them down. At
3630-485: The " praying Indians" from vigilantes, but also as a precautionary measure to prevent rebellion and sedition from them. Mary Rowlandson 's The Sovereignty and Goodness of God is an account of her months of captivity by the Wampanoag during King Philip's War in which she expressed shock at the cruelties from Christian Indians. From Massachusetts, the war spread to other parts of New England. The Kennebec, Pigwacket ( Pequawkets ), and Arosaguntacook from Maine joined in
3751-626: The 'Fox Sachem' of the Pequot was known to late-stage speakers as Wôqs /wãkʷs/ whereas the English name 'Uncas' likely preserves an older dialectal and pre-syncopated stage pronunciation of /[w]ãkʷəhs/ , cf. Massachusett wonquiss ( wôquhs ) /wãkʷəhs/ , indicating that the transition was not complete in New England when the English colonists arrived. When it appears in Massachusett documents, it seems to be indicative of dialectal features or in forced situations, such as sung versions of
Nauset - Misplaced Pages Continue
3872-554: The Bureau of Indian Affairs, the historian Francis Hutchins said that the Mashpee "were not an Indian tribe in the years 1666, 1680, 1763, 1790, 1834, 1870, and 1970, or at any time between 1666 and 1970." In his opinion, an Indian tribe was "an entity composed of persons of American Indian descent, which entity possesses distinct political, legal, cultural attributes, which attributes have descended directly from aboriginal precursors." Without accounting for cultural change, adaptation, and
3993-588: The Coweset dialect. 'Abenakian syncope' was an areal feature that had spread from the Abenakian languages to Mahican , a Delawarean language, and was beginning to spread into SNEA during the early colonial period. The feature was obligatory in the Quiripi, Unquachoag, Montauk, Mohegan and Pequot dialects of the Long Island sound, frequent in Nipmuc and mostly absent in Massachusett and Narragansett. For example
4114-420: The Eastern seaboard for seasonal fishing expeditions, and sometimes stayed in those distant locations for weeks and months at a time. The women cultivated varieties of the " three sisters " (maize, climbing beans, and squash) as the staples of their diet, supplemented by fish and game caught by the men. Each community had authority over a well-defined territory from which the people derived their livelihood through
4235-428: The Indians may have motivated some conversions. Salisbury suggests that the survivors suffered a type of spiritual crisis because their medical and religious leaders had been unable to prevent the epidemic losses. Individual towns and regions had differing expectations for Indian conversions. In most of Eliot's mainland praying towns, religious converts were also expected to follow colonial laws and manners and to adopt
4356-690: The Mashpee Wampanoag obtained provisional recognition as an Indian tribe from the Bureau of Indian Affairs in April 2006, and official Federal recognition in February 2007. Tribal members own some land, as well as land held in common by Wampanoag descendants at both Chapaquddick and Christiantown. Descendants have also purchased land in Middleborough, Massachusetts , upon which the tribe under Glenn A. Marshall's leadership had lobbied to build
4477-626: The Massachusett (people).' Massachusee was the correct short form in traditional Massachusett usage to refer to the people and the language, despite the adoption of Massachusett in English, hence the translation of the Massachusett Psalter as Massachusee Psalter . The people and language take their name from the sacred hill, known in English as Great Blue Hill . The name derives from missi- ( muhs- ), 'big,' 'sacred,' or 'great,' [w]achuwees ( [w]achuwees ) /[w]atʃəw[iː]s/ , 'hill' (literally 'small mountain') and
4598-732: The Massachusett translations of the Psalms of David in the Massachusee Psalter. In dialects that permitted syncopation, it generally involved the deletion of /ə/ , /a/ and occasionally /iː/ , usually at the end of a word, after a long vowel, or metrical factors such as the Algonquian stress rules which deleted these vowels in weakly stressed positions. In Massachusett, there are some syncopated forms such as kuts /kəts/ , ' cormorant ,' and ꝏsqheonk /wəskʷhjᵊãk/ , 'his/her blood,' but these are rare instances compared to
4719-462: The Massachusett, Pawtucket, Wampanoag, Nauset, and Coweset peoples, although the Nauset may have just been an isolated sub-tribe of the Wampanoag. Several regional pidgin varieties of major Eastern Algonquian languages are attested in colonial records, including those based on Mahican, Munsee, Powhatan, and in New England, Massachusett. These pidgin varieties all featured reduced vocabulary and grammar simplifications. These pidgin varieties were used as
4840-676: The Massachusett-language documents, indicating it was a dialectal feature. In place names of Algonquian origin in Massachusetts, the Massachusett innovation covers most of the Massachusett, Pawtucket, Wampanoag and Coweset areas and also seems to have spread into Narragansett and Nipmuc. However, the Nantucket and Nauset were historically /-ək/ , as were many dialects of Nipmuc and likely in Narragansett, although it
4961-660: The Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies initially referred to Massachusett as the Indian language , at first because they were unaware of the ethnic and linguistic boundaries between peoples. Massachusett was adopted as a general term, although due to the influence of the Indian mission and the success of the Praying Town of Natick, Natick also was a common reference to the language, especially in written form. In
Nauset - Misplaced Pages Continue
5082-762: The Natick do.' Small differences can be ascertained from the written sources, but most records indicate that the Massachusett-speaking people spoke very similarly to each other. Daniel Gookin, who had accompanied Eliot on his tours of the Praying towns, noted that the Pawtucket, Pokanoket (Mashpee Wampanoag), and Massachusett all spoke essentially the same language. Ives Goddard, in quoting the ethnopolitical boundaries as listed by John R. Swanton or Frederick Webb Hodge lists five dialects, Natick, North Shore, Wampanoag, Nauset and Coweset which correspond to
5203-471: The Native Americans well, but the Native Americans would speak to each other at times in a similar but baffling tongue, either as their natural language but also probably to restrict information exchange with the foreign English settlers. The pidgin variety varied from Massachusett in the following ways: Simplification of vocabulary Use of non-Massachusett vocabulary Reduction of verbs to
5324-485: The Nauset became the colonists' closest allies. Most became Christianized and aided the colonists as scouts and warriors against the Wampanoag during King Philip's War . Their numbers, always small, were further reduced. They intermarried with neighboring tribes and settlers after King Philip's War. Living along the Atlantic Ocean , the Nauset relied heavily on seafood, but also impressed European explorers with
5445-630: The Nauset population even before colonization of New England began on a large scale. Samuel de Champlain describes contact with the Nauset people at Nauset Harbor in July of 1605. During this visit a member of the French expedition and several native people were killed in a dispute over a metal kettle. The Pilgrims' first contact with the Nauset was during the Mayflower 's landing in November, 1620 near present-day Provincetown , when they discovered
5566-478: The Pilgrims to survive their first winters, and Squanto lived with them and acted as a middleman between them and Massasoit , the Wampanoag sachem . In Mourt's Relation , initial contact between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag was recorded as beginning in the Spring of 1621. The Wampanoag suffered from an epidemic between 1616 and 1619, long thought to be smallpox introduced by contact with Europeans. However,
5687-616: The Plymouth Colony, both Massachusett and Wampanoag , especially since the colony covered most of their traditional territory, were in general use. These three terms remain the most common way of referring to the language in English today, supplanting older colonial names such as Nonantum , Pokanoket or Aberginian . In more technical contexts, Massachusett is often known by names referring to its pan-ethnic usage, such as Massachusett-Wampanoag , Wampanoag-Massachusett , Massachusett-Coweset or Massachusett-Narragansett , although
5808-426: The SNEA languages, including Massachusett, can be differentiated from other Eastern branch languages by several shared innovations including the merger of PEA * hr and * hx into * hš , palatization of PEA * k to SNEA * t where it occurs after PEA * ē and some instances of PA * i , palatization of PEA * sk in similar environments to * hč and word-final PEA * r merging into * š . Within SNEA, Massachusett shares
5929-616: The Wampanoag of Cape Cod and the Islands, with a handful of children who are growing up as the first native speakers in more than a century. Yurok (Puliklah) language (revived) Wiyot (Wishosk) language (†) Plains Algonquian Central Algonquian Abenakian Massachusett language (revived) Narragansett language (†) Nipmuc language (†) Quiripi-Naugatuck-Unquachog language (†) Mohegan-Pequot-Montauk language (†) Delaware languages Nanticoke language (†) Powhatan (†) Carolina Algonquian (†) Massachusett
6050-678: The Wampanoag. In 2015, the federal government declared 150 acres of land in Mashpee and 170 acres of land in Taunton as the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe ’s initial reservation, on which the Tribe can exercise its full tribal sovereignty rights. The Mashpee tribe currently has approximately 3,200 enrolled citizens. The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head currently has 901 enrolled citizens. Early 21st-century population estimates indicated
6171-565: The Wampanoag. In 1849 they had 2,400 acres (9.7 km ) there, of which 500 acres were distributed among the tribe members. The rest was communal property. In contrast to the other reservation groups, the tribe had no guardian or headman. When they needed advice on legal questions, they asked the guardian of the Chappaquiddick Reservation, but other matters they handled themselves. The band used usufruct title, meaning that members had no legal claim to their land and allowed
SECTION 50
#17327720372946292-785: The West Indies, Bermuda , Virginia , or the Iberian Peninsula . The colonists used the women and children as slaves or indentured servants in New England, depending on the colony. Massachusetts resettled the remaining Wampanoags in Natick , Wamesit, Punkapoag, and Hassanamesit, four of the original 14 praying towns. These were the only ones to be resettled after the war. Overall, approximately 5,000 Indians (40 percent of their population) and 2,500 colonists (5 percent) were killed in King Philip's War. The exception to relocation
6413-473: The accusations of the colonists and signed an agreement that required the Wampanoag to give up their firearms. To be on the safe side, he did not take part in the subsequent dinner. His men never delivered their weapons. Philip gradually gained the Nipmuck , Pocomtuc , and Narragansett as allies, and the beginning of the uprising was first planned for the spring of 1676. In March 1675, however, John Sassamon
6534-528: The alliance of tribes who fought against the English in King Philip's War. In 1616, John Smith referred to one of the Wampanoag tribes as the Pokanoket . The earliest colonial records and reports used Pokanoket as the name of the tribe whose leaders (the Massasoit Ousemequin until 1661, his son Wamsutta from 1661 to 1662, and Metacomet from 1662 to 1676) led the Wampanoag confederation at
6655-579: The allotment would " for ever not to be sold or given or alienated from them [his descendants] or any part of these lands." Property deeds in 1671 recorded this area known as the Mashpee Plantation as consisting of around 55 square miles of land. The area was integrated into the district of Mashpee in 1763. In 1788 after the American Revolutionary War , the state revoked the Wampanoag ability to self-govern, considering it
6776-535: The area surrounding four communities on Cape Cod and the Islands and nearby regions just a little "off Cape" including Mashpee , Aquinnah , Freetown , and Cedarville, Plymouth which are the home of the federally recognized Mashpee and Aquinnah tribes and Assonet and Herring Pond communities that participate in the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project. Other groups with some ancestry from Massachusett-speaking peoples include
6897-662: The beginning of July in Mashpee . This first powwow was held at the New Light Baptist Church, at the time called Pondville Church, in Pondville, Massachusetts. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Council was established in 1972 under the leadership of its first president, Russell "Fast Turtle" Peters. In 1974 the Council petitioned the Bureau of Indian Affairs for recognition. In 1976 the tribe sued the Town of Mashpee for
7018-412: The colonial period. The dialects of the language were formerly spoken by several peoples of southern New England , including all the coastal and insular areas of eastern Massachusetts , as well as southeastern New Hampshire , the southernmost tip of Maine and eastern Rhode Island , and it was also a common second or third language across most of New England and portions of Long Island . The use of
7139-494: The death of 40 percent of the surviving Wampanoag. The English sold many Wampanoag men into slavery in Bermuda , the West Indies , or on plantations and farms run by colonists in New England . Today, Wampanoag people continue to live in historical homelands and maintain central aspects of their culture while adapting to changing socioeconomic needs. Oral traditions, ceremonies, song and dance, social gatherings, and hunting and fishing remain important traditional ways of life to
7260-452: The depopulation of the Native peoples due to outbreaks of disease and the chaos of King Philip's War. Although afflicted by several epidemics caused by exposure to pathogens to which they had no previous exposure, the outbreak of leptospirosis in 1616–19 and a virulent smallpox epidemic in 1633 nearly cleared the land of Native Americans. The first outbreak hit the densely populated coastal areas with mortality rates as high as 90 percent, but
7381-404: The effects of non-Indian society, Hutchins argued the Mashpee were not an Indian tribe historically because they adopted Christianity and non-Indian forms of dress and appearance, and chose to remain in Massachusetts as "second-class" citizens rather than emigrating westward (note: to Indian Territory) to "resume tribal existence." Hutchins also noted that they intermarried with non-Indians to create
SECTION 60
#17327720372947502-414: The event celebrated as the first Thanksgiving has been debated in the United States. Many American Indians and historians argue against the romanticized story of the Wampanoag celebrating together with the colonists. Some say that there is no documentation of such an event. One primary account of the 1621 event was written by a firsthand observer. Massasoit became gravely ill in the winter of 1623, but he
7623-405: The further expansion of colonial settlements. The Wampanoag numbered only 1,000, and Philip began to visit other tribes to build alliances among those who also wanted to push out the colonists. At that time, the population colonists in southern New England was already more than double that of the Indians, at 35,000 to 15,000. In 1671, Philip was called to Taunton, Massachusetts , where he listened to
7744-421: The hazardous trades of whaling and shipping. They posit that many Wampanoag women married outside their linguistic groups, making it difficult for them to maintain the various Wampanoag dialects. Jessie Little Doe Baird , a member of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, founded the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project in 1993. They have taught some children, who have become the first speakers of Wôpanâak in more than
7865-539: The immediate north and the Delawaran languages to the west and southwest of the SNEA region. South of the Delawaran languages are the Nanticokan languages of the Chesapeake Bay and Potomac River watershed, the Powhatan languages of coastal Virginia and the Carolina Algonquian languages of the Carolinas. The Eastern languages are the only genetic grouping to have emerged from Algonquian, as all the languages descend from Proto-Eastern Algonquian (PEA), which differentiated likely due to isolation from other Algonquian speakers due to
7986-406: The intransitive inanimate Although the use of Massachusett Pidgin declined in favor of Massachusett Pidgin English, especially once the English settlers established their foothold and saw little use in the language of a people whose lands they were usurping and were dying off from disease. Interest in Massachusett Pidgin and other Algonquian pidgin languages comes from the fact that they were likely
8107-417: The land should be cultivated, as the colony had leased the better sections to the whites at low interest. The original goal of creating an undisturbed center for missionary work was quickly forgotten. The state finally created a reservation on a peninsula on the western point of Martha's Vineyard and named it Gay Head. This region was connected to the main island by an isthmus; it enabled the isolation desired by
8228-462: The language in the intertribal communities of Christian converts, called praying towns , resulted in its adoption by some groups of Nipmuc and Pennacook . The revitalization of the language began in 1993 when Jessie Little Doe Baird ( Mashpee Wampanoag ) launched the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project (WLRP). It has successfully reintroduced the revived Wampanoag dialect to the Mashpee , Aquinnah , Assonet, and Herring Pond communities of
8349-474: The larger Wampanoag, isolated Wampanoag settlements on the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket and Mashpee on the mainland. After another century of extreme assimilation pressure, intermarriage, and the necessity of learning and using English in daily life, the language disappeared from Massachusett-speaking communities by the 19th century, with the very last speakers dying off at the century's end on Martha's Vineyard. Contemporary speakers are restricted to
8470-474: The last Nantucket Wampanoag died in 1855. Today, there are two federally recognized Wampanoag tribes and no state-recognized Wampanoag tribes. The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe has about 3,200 enrolled citizens in 2023. The Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) had 1,364 enrolled tribal citizens in 2019. Some genealogy experts testified that some of the tribes did not demonstrate the required continuity since historic times. For instance, in his testimony to
8591-446: The latter epidemic had a broader impact. The epidemics opened the Massachusett-speaking peoples to attacks from regional rivals, such as the Narragansett and Pennacook and historic enemies such as the Tarratine (Abenaki) and Mohawk, as well as removed any resistance to colonial expansion. The war caused many Native peoples to flee the area, and remnant populations regrouped, merging dialect communities and disparate peoples. Knowledge of
8712-502: The locative suffix -ett ( -ut ). The syncopation of the diminutive ( -ees ) to -s was common in dialects and rapid or relaxed speech, thus the colonial form wachus as opposed to careful Massachusett ( wachuwees ). The Wampanoag tribes affiliated with the WLRP refer to the language as ( Wôpanâôtuwâôk ), possibly back-rendered into the colonial spelling as Wampanaontꝏwaonk , 'Wampanoag language' to refer not only to
8833-418: The main source of words from the Algonquian languages. For instance, the early Pilgrims and Puritans only make references to wigwams and never wetu s . Similarly, sagamore was in common frequency as sachem in the early English of New England. A handful of Native Americans had rudimentary knowledge of English through occasional contacts with English seafarers, adventurers, fishermen and traders for
8954-417: The majority of linguists consider Narragansett a separate albeit closely related language. Due to the heavy scholarly, cultural and media attention surrounding the revival of the language under the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project of Jessie Little Doe Baird, and also because the Wampanoag far outnumber Massachusett people, the use of 'Wampanoag' or its revived form 'Wôpanâak' to refer to the entire language
9075-635: The material trappings of colonial life. Eliot and other ministers relied on praise and rewards for those who conformed, rather than punishing those who did not. The Christian Indian settlements of Martha's Vineyard were noted for a great deal of sharing and mixing between Wampanoag and colonial ways of life. Wampanoag converts often continued their traditional practices in dress, hairstyle, and governance. The Martha's Vineyard converts were not required to attend church and they often maintained traditional cultural practices, such as mourning rituals. The Wampanoag women were more likely to convert to Christianity than
9196-410: The medium of communication between speakers of dialects or languages with limited mutual intelligibility. Massachusett Pidgin was used as a common language over New England and Long Island and was likely used with the foreign English settlers. For instance, Edward Winslow describes a situation in his 1624 Good News from New England where he and a few other Pilgrims were able to converse and understand
9317-587: The men. Experience Mayhew said that "it seems to be a Truth with respect to our Indians, so far as my knowledge of them extend, that there have been, and are a greater number of their Women appearing pious than of the men among them" in his text "Indian Converts". The frequency of female conversion created a problem for missionaries, who wanted to establish patriarchal family and societal structures among them. Women had control of property, and inheritance and descent passed through their line, including hereditary leadership for men. Wampanoag women on Martha's Vineyard were
9438-470: The more common kuttis ( kutuhs ) /kətəhs/ and wusqueheonk ( wusqeeheôk ) /wəskʷiːhjᵊãk/ , respectively, that also appear in Eliot's translations. Although a clear dialectal feature, unfortunately, the majority of documents are of unknown authorship and geographic origin. The locative suffix, as in 'Massachus ett ' with /-ət/ prevails in a three-to-one ratio over the older /-ək/ variant in
9559-438: The most similarity to Narragansett and Nipmuc, its immediate neighbors, with a handful of lexical items indicating an east-west division. For example, the word 'fish' is namohs ( namâhs ) in Massachusett, namens In Nipmuc and Narragansett namaùs , all likely pronounced similarly to /namaːhs/ from Proto-Algonquian * nameᐧʔsa , contrasting with Mohegan-Pequot piyamáq and Quiripi opéramac which derives from
9680-472: The name of the people or place was followed by unnontꝏwaog ( unôtuwâôk ) /ənãtəwaːãk/ to indicate 'its people's language' or 'that which the people speak'. In the colonial period, the language was generally known as Massachusett unnontꝏwaonk ( Muhsachuweesut unôtuwâôk ) /məhsatʃəwiːsət ənãtəwaːãk/ , 'language of the Massachusett (region)' or Massachusee unnontꝏwaonk ( Muhsachuweesee unôtuwâôk ) /məhsatʃəwiːsiː ənãtəwaːãk/ , 'language of
9801-480: The number of English settlers grew and quickly outnumbered the local peoples, Natives grew to use English more often, and the settlers also used it to communicate with the Native Americans. The resulting pidgin was probably the vector of transmission of many of the so-called 'wigwam words,' i.e., local Algonquian loan words, that were once prevalent in the English spoken in the Americas. Massachusett Pidgin English
9922-469: The outbreak of the war, many Indians offered to fight with the colonists against King Philip and his allies, serving as warriors, scouts, advisers, and spies. Mistrust and hostility eventually caused the colonists to discontinue Indian assistance, even though they were invaluable in the war. The Massachusetts government moved many Christian Indians to Deer Island in Boston Harbor , in part to protect
10043-427: The position of sachem, and women were sometimes chosen over close male relatives. Pre-marital sexual experimentation was accepted, although the Wampanoag expected fidelity within unions after marriage. Roger Williams (1603–1683) said that "single fornication they count no sin, but after Marriage... they count it heinous for either of them to be false." Polygamy was practiced among the Wampanoag, although monogamy
10164-490: The presence of large pockets of Iroquoian and Siouan languages and the Appalachian Mountains . The Central and Plains , however, are groupings based on areal features and geographical proximity. The SNEA languages were all mutually intelligible to some extent, existing in a dialect chain or linkage , with the boundaries between quite distinct dialects blurred by a series of transitional varieties. All
10285-534: The productivity of their swidden agriculture based on the " three sisters " of maize, beans, squash, as well as Jerusalem artichokes , tobacco and silviculture of mast trees. They consumed maize boiled whole in earthen pots, or prepared a maize flour with mortar and pestle which was then made into corn cakes. During the autumn, they hunted wild turkey using bows and arrows tipped with the spines of horseshoe crabs and fletched with turkey feathers. They also armed themselves with clubs and spears for defense. In
10406-434: The reservation; some stole wood from its forests. A large region, once rich in wood, fish, and game, it was considered highly desirable by the whites. With competition between whites and the Wampanoag, conflicts were more frequent than for more isolated native settlements elsewhere in the state. In 1870, each member of the Mashpee tribe over the age of 18 was granted 60 acres of land for private ownership, effectively dismantling
10527-419: The residents moved to nearby Edgartown , so that they could practice a trade and obtain some civil rights. Christiantown was originally a praying town on the northwest side of Martha's Vineyard, northwest of Tisbury . In 1849 the reservation still consisted of 390 acres (1.6 km ), of which all but 10 were distributed among the residents. The land, kept under community ownership, yielded very few crops and
10648-572: The rest long. Wampanoag The Wampanoag ( / ˈ w ɑː m p ə n ɔː ɡ / ) , also rendered Wôpanâak , are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands currently based in southeastern Massachusetts and formerly parts of eastern Rhode Island . Their historical territory includes the islands of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket . Today, two Wampanoag tribes are federally recognized : The Wampanoag language , also known as Massachusett ,
10769-415: The return of ancestral homelands. The case was lost but the tribe continued to pursue federal recognition for three decades. In 2000 the Mashpee Wampanoag council was headed by chairman Glenn Marshall. Marshall led the group until 2007 when it was disclosed that he had a prior conviction for rape, had lied about having a military record and was under investigation associated for improprieties associated with
10890-449: The same name and was located on the eastern point of that island. As the result of the sale of land in 1789, the natives lost valuable areas, and the remaining land was distributed among the Indian residents in 1810. In 1823 the laws were changed, in order to hinder those trying to get rid of the natives and to implement a visible beginning of a civic organization. Around 1849, they owned 692 acres (2.80 km ) of infertile land, and many of
11011-491: The southernmost tip of Maine. Due to the waves of epidemics that killed off most of the Native peoples, competition with the large influx of English colonists for land and resources, and the great upheaval in the wake of King Philip's War , by the beginning of the 18th century, the language and its speakers had contracted into a shrinking land base and population, concentrated in the former praying towns of Natick and Ponkapoag and
11132-653: The spiritual leaders of their households. In general, English ministers agreed that it was preferable for women to subvert the patriarchal model and assume a dominant spiritual role than it was for their husbands to remain unconverted. Experience Mayhew asked, "How can those Wives answer it unto God who do not Use their utmost Endeavors to Perswade and oblige their husbands to maintain Prayer in their families?" In some cases, Wampanoag women converts accepted changed gender roles under colonial custom, while others practiced their traditional roles of shared power as Christians. Massasoit
11253-569: The spoken language and its diversity ceased with the death of the last speakers of SNEA languages. Most had ceased to be functional, everyday languages of the Native American communities by the end of the eighteenth century, if not sooner, and all were extinct by the dawning of the twentieth century. Most linguistic knowledge relies on word lists and passing mention in colonial sources, which can only provide very limited understanding. Written records do show some variation, but dialect leveling
11374-499: The spoken language as well, as it was recited when Bible passages were read aloud during sermons or any written document. Experience Mayhew , himself bilingual in the language and from a direct line of missionaries to the Native Americans of Martha's Vineyard, where the speech was said to be completely unintelligible to neighboring Wampanoag from the mainland noted that '... most of the little differences betwixt them have been happily Lost, and our Indians Speak, but especially write much as
11495-681: The spring of 1676, following a winter of hunger and deprivation. The colonial troops set out after Canonchet and took him captive. After a firing squad executed him, colonists quartered his corpse and sent his head to Hartford, Connecticut , where it was set on public display. During the summer months, Philip escaped from his pursuers and went to a hideout on Mount Hope in Rhode Island. Colonial forces attacked in August, killing and capturing 173 Wampanoags. Philip barely escaped capture, but his wife and their nine-year-old son were captured and put on
11616-420: The stages of food production and processing, so they had important socio-political, economic, and spiritual roles in their communities. Wampanoag men were mainly responsible for hunting and fishing, while women took care of farming and gathering wild fruits, nuts, berries, and shellfish. Women were responsible for up to 75 percent of all food production in Wampanoag societies. The Wampanoag were organized into
11737-421: The summer of 1605 when they were visited by Champlain , clothing consisted of leather loincloths for both men and women, at times grass or hemp dogbane tunics, and open-front skin wraps for women. Both genders decorated their skins with black, yellow, and red pigments, and plaited or twisted their hair, decorating it with shell beads. Men plucked their beards, and cut the hair on top of their head short, leaving
11858-406: The thousands of acres of common tribal lands, and by 1871, non-Mashpee land ownership of the choicest portions of land purchased from impoverished Mashpee, leading to significant loss of Mashpee land ownership. On Martha's Vineyard in the 18th and 19th centuries, there were three reservations— Chappaquiddick , Christiantown and Gay Head . The Chappaquiddick Reservation was part of a small island of
11979-791: The time the English began settling southeastern New England. The Pokanoket were based at Sowams, near where Warren, Rhode Island , developed and on the peninsula where Bristol, Rhode Island, arose after King Philip's War. The Seat of Metacomet, or King Philip's seat, at Mount Hope Bay in Bristol, Rhode Island became the political center from which Metacomet began King Philip's War, the first intertribal war of Native American resistance to English settlement in North America. The Wampanoag people were semi-sedentary (that is, partially nomadic), with seasonal movements between sites in southern New England . The men often traveled far north and south along
12100-518: The tribal council records detailing the council's involvement in this scandal via a complaint filed in Barnstable Municipal Court were shunned by the council and banned them from the tribe for seven years. In 2009 the tribe elected council member Cedric Cromwell to the position of council chair and president. Cromwell ran a campaign based on reforms and distancing himself from the previous chairmen, even though he had served as
12221-515: The tribal members free rein over their choice of land, as well as over cultivation and building, in order to make their ownership clear. They did not allow whites to settle on their land. They made strict laws regulating membership in the tribe. As a result, they were able to strengthen the groups' ties to each other, and they did not lose their tribal identity until long after other groups had lost theirs. The Wampanoag on Nantucket Island were almost completely destroyed by an unknown plague in 1763;
12342-551: The tribe members left it to get paying jobs in the cities. Wampanoag oral history tells that Christiantown was wiped out in 1888 by a smallpox epidemic. The third reservation on Martha's Vineyard was constructed in 1711 by the New England Company (founded in 1649) to Christianize the natives. They bought land for the Gay Head natives who had lived there since before 1642. There was considerable dispute about how
12463-420: The tribe's casino lobbying efforts. Marshall was succeeded by tribal council vice- chair Shawn Hendricks. He held the position until Marshall pleaded guilty in 2009 to federal charges of embezzling, wire fraud, mail fraud, tax evasion and election finance law violations. He steered tens of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to politicians through the tribe's hired lobbyist Jack Abramoff , who
12584-700: The tribes that absorbed the refugees of King Philip's War such as the Abenaki ( Alnôbak ) of northern New Hampshire, Vermont and Québec ; the Schaghticoke ( Pishgachtigok ) of western Connecticut along the border with New York and the Brothertown or Brotherton ( Eeyawquittoowauconnuck ) and Stockbridge-Munsee ( Mahiikaniiw - Munsíiw ) , both amalgamations of peoples of southern New England and elsewhere that relocated to Wisconsin. The Southern New England Algonquian languages existed in
12705-526: The unanimous consent of the tribe, writing "We freely give these lands forementioned unto the South Sea Indians and their children forever: and not to be sold or given away from them by anyone without all their consents thereunto." An Indian Deed relating to the Petition of Reuben Cognehew presented a provision established by a representative of the community named Quatchatisset establishing that
12826-432: The varieties used historically by the Wampanoag people, but also to the Massachusett language as a whole. The name derives from wampan- ( wôpan- ), 'east' or 'dawn,' and thus signifies 'language of the easterners' or 'language of the people of the dawn.' Modern speakers of the revived dialect shorten this to ( Wôpanâak ) (Wampanoag), even though this technically refers only to the people. The English settlers of
12947-438: The war against the colonists. The Narragansetts of Rhode Island gave up their neutrality after the colonists attacked one of their fortified villages. The Narragansetts lost more than 600 people and 20 sachems in the battle which became known as the " Great Swamp Massacre ". Their leader Canonchet was able to flee and led a large group of Narragansett warriors west to join King Philip's warriors. The war turned against Philip in
13068-519: The way home and died shortly after. The Wampanoag were told that he died of fever, but many Indians thought that he had been poisoned. The following year, his brother Philip (Metacom) became sachem of the Wampanoag. Under Philip's leadership, the relationship changed dramatically between the Wampanoag and the colonists. Philip believed that the ever-increasing colonists would eventually take over everything — not only land, but also their culture, their way of life, and their religion — so he decided to limit
13189-562: Was a 1663 translation into Wampanoag by missionary John Eliot . He created an orthography , which he taught to the Wampanoag. Many became literate, using Wampanoag for letters, deeds, and historic documents. The rapid decline of Wampanoag speakers began after the American Revolution . Neal Salisbury and Colin G. Calloway suggest that New England Indian communities suffered from gender imbalances at this time due to premature male deaths, especially due to warfare and their work in
13310-537: Was abducted by the crew of English vessel, sold into slavery in Spain , mysteriously found his way to London where gained employment on English explorations of the North American coast and later escaped and took up residence in a neighboring Wôpanâak village. As the Native Americans were already in a multi-dialectal, multilingual society, English was adopted quite quickly albeit with strong influences of Massachusett lexicon, grammar and likely pronunciation. As
13431-474: Was among those Indians who adopted colonial customs. He asked the legislators in Plymouth near the end of his life to give both of his sons English names. The older son Wamsutta was given the name Alexander, and his younger brother Metacom was named Philip. After his father's death, Alexander became the sachem of the Wampanoag. The colonists invited him to Plymouth to talk, but Wamsutta became seriously ill on
13552-551: Was brought about with the introduction of a de facto standard written language as used in Eliot's translation of the Bible and several primers and catechisms used to teach literacy, were produced with the aid of Native American translators, editors and interpreters from Natick, and was based on its speech. The employment of numerous literate Native Americans across Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies' Praying towns, many from Natick or had studied there for some time, helped elevate
13673-428: Was convicted of numerous charges in a much larger scheme. Following the arrests of Abramoff and Marshall, the newly recognized Mashpee Tribe led by new chair Shawn Hendricks, continued to work with Abramoff lobbyist colleague Kevin A. Ring pursuing their Indian gaming-related interests. Ring was subsequently convicted on corruption charges linked to his work for the Mashpee band. Tribal elders who had sought access to
13794-726: Was kidnapped by Spanish monks who attempted to convert him before setting him free. He accompanied an expedition to Newfoundland as an interpreter, then made his way back to his homeland in 1619, only to discover that the entire Patuxet tribe had died in an epidemic. In 1620, the Pilgrims arrived in Plymouth , and Tisquantum and other Wampanoag taught them how to cultivate the varieties of corn, squash, and beans (the Three Sisters ) that flourished in New England, as well as how to catch and process fish and collect seafood. They enabled
13915-405: Was mostly English in vocabulary, but included numerous loan words, grammar features and calques of Massachusett Pidgin. Amongst the Native Americans, it co-existed with the use of the 'standard' Massachusett language, local speech and other dialects or languages, Massachusett Pidin and English. As the Native Americans began a quick process of language shift at the end of the eighteenth century, it
14036-412: Was murdered. Sassamon was a Christian Indian raised in Natick, one of the praying towns. He was educated at Harvard College and had served as a scribe, interpreter, and counselor to Philip and the Wampanoag. But, a week before his death, Sassamon reported to Plymouth governor Josiah Winslow that Philip was planning a war against the colonists. Sassamon was found dead under the ice of Assawompsett Pond
14157-602: Was nursed back to health by the colonists. In 1632, the Narragansetts attacked Massasoit's village in Sowam , but the colonists helped the Wampanoag to drive them back. After 1632, the Plymouth Colony was outnumbered by the growing Puritans settlements around Boston. The colonists expanded westward into the Connecticut River Valley . In 1638, they destroyed the powerful Pequot Confederation. In 1643,
14278-493: Was recorded as 'Asacancomi c in the older colonial sources. This 'correction' stops at the Connecticut River, as most place names from areas associated with Mahican, such as Hoos ic , Housaton ic , Mahkeen ak , Quass uck and Mananos ick and Pocomtuc examples such as Podat uck , Pocumt uck , Suns ick , Norwott uck and Pachass ic noticeably lack this feature. Nevertheless, because of the wide dialectal variation,
14399-784: Was the coastal islands' Wampanoag groups, who had stayed neutral through the war. The colonists forced the Wampanoag of the mainland to resettle with the Saconnet (Sekonnet), or with the Nauset into the praying towns in Barnstable County . Mashpee is the largest Indian reservation set aside in Massachusetts, and is located on Cape Cod . In 1660, the colonists allotted the natives about 50 square miles (130 km ) there, and beginning in 1665 they had self-government, adopting an English-style court of law and trials. Mashpee sachems Wepquish and Tookenchosin declared in 1665 that this land would not be able to be sold to non-Mashpee without
14520-566: Was the first printed in the Americas, the first Bible translated by a non-native speaker, and one of the earliest examples of a Bible translation into a previously unwritten language. Literate Native American ministers and teachers taught literacy to the elites and other members of their communities, influencing a widespread acceptance. This is attested in the numerous court petitions, church records, praying town administrative records, notes on book margins, personal letters, and widespread distribution of other translations of religious tracts throughout
14641-578: Was the norm. Some elite men could take several wives for political or social reasons, and multiple wives were a symbol of wealth. Women were the producers and distributors of corn and other food products. Marriage and conjugal unions were not as important as ties of clan and kinship. The Wampanoag originally spoke Wôpanâak, a dialect of the Massachusett language , which belongs to the Algonquian languages family. The first Bible published in America
#293706