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 is spoken in four Wampanoag communities. The language is also known as Natick or Wôpanâak (Wampanoag), and historically as Pokanoket , Indian or Nonantum .
178-783: New Bedford ( Massachusett : Accushnet ) is a city in Bristol County, Massachusetts , United States. It is located on the Acushnet River in what is known as the South Coast region. It is the largest city in the region and second largest city in the Providence-Warwick-New Bedford Metropolitan Region. Up through the 17th century, the area was the territory of the Wampanoag Indians. English colonists bought
356-505: 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
534-556: A 2001 study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Policy Analysis, the three largest employment sectors in the Greater New Bedford area (the area includes New Bedford and Acushnet, Dartmouth, Fairhaven, Freetown, Lakeville, Marion, Mattapoisett, Rochester, and Wareham) were as follows: services (26% of total employment); wholesale trade (22%); manufacturing (19%). The largest industries by employment in
712-586: A boy named John Billington became lost for some time in the woods around the colony. It was reported that he was found by the Nausets , the same tribe on Cape Cod from whom the Pilgrims had unwittingly stolen corn seed the prior year upon their first explorations. The colonists organized a party to return Billington to Plymouth, and they agreed to reimburse the Nausets for the corn which they had taken in return for
890-518: A commercial zone and from there became a major whaling and foreign trade port. In the early 18th century, the Russell family purchased this area and developed it into a larger village (Joseph Russell III having made the most significant contributions). Age of Sail ships built in New Bedford include the schooner Caroline and whaleship Charles W. Morgan . By the 18th century, entrepreneurs in
1068-639: A community of Kʼicheʼ people who originated from Guatemala and had traveled to the United States to avoid the Guatemalan Civil War . Starting in the end part of the 1980s, Kʼicheʼ adult men in Providence, Rhode Island moved to New Bedford, and other demographics of Kʼicheʼ came afterwards. Many, by 2010, were in low socioeconomic conditions and did not have documentation to be legally in the United States. In 2019 an advocacy group for
1246-605: A community of their own, or at least be free from the bonds by which the Plymouth colonists were enslaved. A letter addressed to the colonists and signed by thirteen of the merchants recited these facts and urged acceptance of the new comers on the specified terms." The new arrivals were allotted land in the area of the Eel River known as Hobs Hole , which became Wellingsley, a mile south of Plymouth Rock. In September 1623, another ship arrived carrying settlers destined to refound
1424-443: A defensive cannon would be stationed. Also important in choosing the site was the fact that the prior villagers had cleared much of the land, making agriculture relatively easy. Fresh water for the colony was provided by Town Brook and Billington Sea . There are no contemporaneous accounts to verify the legend, but Plymouth Rock is often hailed as the point where the colonists first set foot on their new homeland. The area where
1602-656: A feast which included numerous types of waterfowl, wild turkeys, and fish procured by the colonists, and five deer brought by the Wampanoags. After the departure of Massasoit and his men, Squanto remained in Plymouth to teach the Pilgrims how to survive in New England, such as using dead fish to fertilize the soil. For the first few years of colonial life, the fur trade was the dominant source of income beyond subsistence farming, buying furs from Natives, and selling to Europeans. Governor Carver suddenly died shortly after
1780-516: 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
1958-471: A formal treaty of peace after exchanging gifts. This treaty ensured that each people would not bring harm to the other, that Massasoit would send his allies to make peaceful negotiations with Plymouth, and that they would come to each other's aid in a time of war. The Mayflower set sail for England on April 5, 1621, after being anchored for almost four months in Plymouth Harbor . Nearly half of
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#17327723148782136-411: A house at Wessagussett under the pretense of sharing a meal and making negotiations. Standish and his men then stabbed and killed them. Standish and his men pursued Obtakiest, a local sachem, but he escaped with three prisoners from Wessagussett; he then executed them. Within a short time, Wessagussett was disbanded, and the survivors were integrated into the town of Plymouth. Word quickly spread among
2314-591: A lesser-known disease called leptospirosis . The absence of any serious Indian opposition to the Pilgrims' settlement may have been a pivotal event to their success and to English colonization in America. Popham Colony , also known as Fort St. George, was organized by the Plymouth Company (unrelated to Plymouth Colony) and founded in 1607. It was settled on the coast of Maine and was beset by internal political struggles, sickness, and weather problems. It
2492-590: A letter from the Merchant Adventurers chastising the colony for failure to return goods with the Mayflower that had been promised in return for their support. The Fortune began its return to England laden with £500 worth of goods (equivalent to £78,000 in 2010, or $ 118,799 at PPP ), more than enough to keep the colonists on schedule for repayment of their debt. However, the Fortune was captured by
2670-450: 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
2848-640: 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
3026-485: A patent to settle this area, and some passengers began to question their right to land, objecting that there was no legal authority to establish a colony and hence no guarantee of retaining ownership over any land that they had improved. In response to this, a group of colonists drafted and signed the Mayflower Compact while still aboard the ship as it lay at anchor, which became the first governing document for
3204-541: A prosperity greater than that of the whaling industry. New Bedford, funded by industrial fortunes, developed a thriving art scene. The Mount Washington Glass Company (which later became Pairpoint ) crafted works of glass and silver for the newly affluent class, and examples of these works can be seen today on the second floor of the New Bedford Whaling Museum . In the 1920s, local employers came under competitive pressure from new textile factories in
3382-601: A retaliatory raid by Pequot warriors on the town of Wethersfield, Connecticut , where some 30 English settlers were killed. This led to a further retaliation, where a raid led by Captain John Underhill and Captain John Mason burned a Pequot village to the ground in Mystic , killing 300 Pequots. Plymouth Colony had little to do with the actual fighting in the war. When it appeared that the war would resume, four of
3560-521: A settlement site. They rejected several sites, including one on Clark's Island and another at the mouth of the Jones River , in favor of the site of a recently abandoned settlement which had been occupied by the Patuxet tribe. The location was chosen largely for its defensive position. The settlement would be centered on two hills: Cole's Hill, where the village would be built, and Fort Hill, where
3738-625: A sizable eastern-European Jewish community joined them in New Bedford. Some became prominent merchants and businessmen, mainly in textiles and manufacturing. Fishing and manufacturing continue to be two of the largest businesses in the area, and healthcare has become a major employer. The three largest single employers based in New Bedford are Southcoast Hospitals Group , one of the top ten employers in Massachusetts (healthcare), Titleist (golf clubs, balls, apparel, manufacturing), and Riverside Manufacturing (apparel manufacturing). According to
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#17327723148783916-635: A skilled and comprehensive maritime community. New Bedford's first newspaper, The Medley (also known as the New Bedford Marine Journal ), was founded in 1792. On June 12, 1792, the town set up its first post office. William Tobey was its first postmaster. The construction of a bridge (originally a toll bridge) between New Bedford and present-day Fairhaven in 1796 also spurred growth. (Fairhaven separated from New Bedford in 1812, forming an independent town that included both present-day Fairhaven and present-day Acushnet.) Nantucket had been
4094-573: A skirmish with Indians known as the "First Encounter" near Eastham, Massachusetts . The colonists decided to look elsewhere, having failed to secure a proper site for their settlement, and fearing that they had angered the Indians by taking their corn and firing upon them. The Mayflower left Provincetown Harbor and set sail for Plymouth Harbor. The Mayflower dropped anchor in Plymouth Harbor on December 16 and spent three days looking for
4272-478: A slave for a group of Spanish monks, then as a freeman in England. He had returned to New England in 1619, acting as a guide to explorer Capt. Robert Gorges , but Massasoit and his men had massacred the crew of the ship and had taken Squanto. Samoset returned to Plymouth on March 22 with a delegation from Massasoit that included Squanto; Massasoit joined them shortly after, and he and Governor Carver established
4450-568: A third garrison on Palmer Island . A section of Old Dartmouth near the west bank of the Acushnet River, originally called Bedford Village, was officially incorporated as the town of New Bedford on February 23, 1787, after the American Revolutionary War . The name was suggested by the Russell family, who were prominent citizens of the community. The Dukes of Bedford , a leading English aristocratic house, also bore
4628-596: A treaty with Wampanoag Chief Massasoit which helped to ensure its success; in this, they were aided by Squanto , a member of the Patuxet tribe. Plymouth played a central role in King Philip's War (1675–1678), one of several Indian Wars , but the colony was ultimately merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other territories in 1691 to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay . Despite
4806-509: A vessel named the Sparrow arrived carrying seven men from the Merchant Adventurers whose purpose was to seek out a site for a new settlement in the area. Two ships followed shortly after carrying 60 settlers, all men. They spent July and August in Plymouth before moving north to settle in Weymouth, Massachusetts , at a settlement which they named Wessagussett . The settlement of Wessagussett
4984-505: A violent crime rate in New Bedford, Massachusetts, of 640 per 100,000 residents in 2019, compared to a national average of 366.7 per 100,000 residents. An FBI report in 2020 showed burglary and breaking and entering dropped about 52% from 969 crimes in 2011 to 465 crimes in 2019. The economy of the Pilgrim settlement in the New Bedford area was initially based around a few farming and fishing villages. The early Bedford Village quickly became
5162-484: 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 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 ,
5340-475: Is a coastal city, a seaport, bordered on the west by Dartmouth, on the north by Freetown , on the east by Acushnet and Fairhaven, and on the south by Buzzards Bay . From New Bedford's northern border with Freetown to the Buzzards Bay coast at Clark's Point the distance is approximately 14 miles (23 km). Across New Bedford east to west is a distance of about 2 miles (3.2 km). The highest point in
5518-440: 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
New Bedford, Massachusetts - Misplaced Pages Continue
5696-519: Is believed to have been about 12,000. On May 15, 1602, English explorer Bartholomew Gosnold in the ship Concord landed on Cuttyhunk Island while exploring New England . From there, he explored Cape Cod and the neighboring areas, including the site of present-day New Bedford. Gosnold left and settled in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia . In 1652, English colonists purchased Old Dartmouth —a region of 115,000 acres (470 km) that
5874-545: Is estimated that the entire population of the colony at the point of its dissolution was around 7,000. For comparison, it is estimated that more than 20,000 settlers had arrived in Massachusetts Bay Colony between 1630 and 1640 (a period known as the Great Migration ), and the population of all New England was estimated to be about 60,000 by 1678. Plymouth was the first colony in the region, but it
6052-542: Is high precipitation year-round, with winter being split between rainfall and snowfall. New Bedford and surrounding communities are a part of the Providence metropolitan area . The Greater Providence-Fall River-New Bedford area is home to the largest Portuguese-American community in the United States. At the 2020 census , there were 101,079 people. The population density was 4,760 inhabitants per square mile (1,840/km). There were 42,781 housing units at an average density of 2,063 per square mile (797/km). The racial makeup of
6230-793: 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
6408-518: 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
6586-491: Is likely that Massachusett Pidgin English lost its native features and merged with the evolution of local speech, one of the varieties of Eastern New England English or even General American of the majority non-Native Americans of the region in a process similar to decreolization . Massachusett Pidgin English had the following characteristics: Massachusett loan words (shared Massachusett Pidgin vocabulary) Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes Plimouth )
6764-484: Is located at 41°39′06″N 70°56′01″W / 41.651803°N 70.933705°W / 41.651803; -70.933705 (41.651803, −70.933705). According to the United States Census Bureau , the city has a total area of 24.1 square miles (62.5 km). Of the total area, 20.0 square miles (51.8 km) is land, and 4.1 square miles (10.7 km), or 17.13%, is water. New Bedford
6942-524: Is now Dartmouth , Acushnet , New Bedford, Fairhaven , and Westport —in a treaty between the Wampanoag, represented by Chief Ousamequin ( Massasoit ) and his son Wamsutta , and John Winslow , William Bradford , Myles Standish , Thomas Southworth, and John Cooke. While the Europeans considered themselves full owners of the land through the transaction, the Wampanoag have disputed this claim because
7120-601: Is now the southeastern portion of Massachusetts . Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore , including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock . Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Protestant Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims . The colony established
7298-565: Is that the inhabitants enjoyed their independence from the Plymouth Colony and they did not want the Plymouth court to appoint them a minister. At this time, the economy primarily ran on agriculture and fishing. The availability of land attracted many Quakers and Baptists from Newport and Portsmouth in Rhode Island , as well as more waves of Puritan migration. The rising European population and increasing demand for land led
New Bedford, Massachusetts - Misplaced Pages Continue
7476-510: 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,
7654-466: 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,
7832-491: The Acushnet River . In 1875 alone, the Wamsutta Mills processed 19,000 bales of cotton into 20 million yards of cloth, which had a wholesale value comparable to that of the entire whaling catch, and continued to produce over 20 million yards of cloth yearly after 1883. The Wamsutta Mills remained the world's largest weaving plant until 1892. The textile mills redefined wealth in New Bedford, and gave birth to
8010-793: The Confederacy engaged in commerce raiding with ships such as the Alabama , the Florida , and the Shenandoah , trying to attack the Yankee whaling industry and sabotage the US economy. Additionally, the US federal government bought several inactive whalers , filled them with stones, sand, and dirt, and towed them to Charleston , South Carolina, where the Union Navy sank what became known as
8188-577: The Dartmouth of the Boston Tea Party ) and Samuel Rodman were important Quaker businessmen in the whaling industry. After the War of 1812 's embargo was lifted, New Bedford started amassing a number of colossal, sturdy, square-rigged whaling ships, many of them built at the shipyard of Mattapoisett . The invention of on-board tryworks , a system of massive iron pots over a brick furnace, allowed
8366-587: The Maya people complained to the courts that the New Bedford School District was not providing adequate Kʼicheʼ language services. The U.S. Department of Justice and the school district came to resolution so the school district could provide appropriate Kʼicheʼ language services. The city's crime rate, including violent and property crime decreased by 38% from 2011 to 2020 with 4456 incidents in 2011 and 2171 incidents in 2020. The FBI reported
8544-411: The Mayflower returned to England. William Bradford was elected to replace him and went on to lead the colony through much of its formative years. As promised by Massasoit, numerous Natives arrived at Plymouth throughout the middle of 1621 with pledges of peace. On July 2, a party of Pilgrims led by Edward Winslow (who later became the chief diplomat of the colony) set out to continue negotiations with
8722-464: The Mayflower . It remained with the Pilgrims when the Mayflower returned to England. On November 15, Captain Myles Standish led a party of 16 men on an exploratory mission, during which they disturbed an Indian grave and located a buried cache of Indian corn. The following week, Susanna White gave birth to son Peregrine White on the Mayflower . He was the first child born to the Pilgrims in
8900-472: The Narragansett Bay and completely omitted most of the New England coast. European fishermen had also been plying the waters off the New England coast for much of the 16th and 17th centuries. Frenchman Samuel de Champlain had explored the area extensively in 1605. He had specifically explored Plymouth Harbor , which he called "Port St. Louis", and he made an extensive and detailed map of it and
9078-662: The Revenue Cutter School of Instruction, the precursor of the United States Coast Guard Academy . At the 2020 U.S. census , New Bedford had a population of 101,079, making it the state's ninth-largest city and the largest of the South Coast region. The city is also known for its high concentration of Portuguese Americans . New Bedford remains known for its fishing fleet and accompanying seafood industry, which as of 2019 generated
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#17327723148789256-456: The Speedwell forced the expedition to return again to England, this time to the port of Plymouth . The Speedwell was found to be unseaworthy; some passengers abandoned their attempt to emigrate, while others joined the Mayflower , crowding the already heavily burdened ship. Later, it was speculated that the crew of the Speedwell had intentionally sabotaged the ship to avoid having to make
9434-742: The Speedwell in July 1620 in the Dutch port of Delfshaven . Speedwell was re-rigged with larger masts before leaving Holland and setting out to meet Mayflower in Southampton, England , around the end of July 1620. The Mayflower was purchased in London. The original captains were Captain Reynolds for Speedwell and Captain Christopher Jones for Mayflower . Other passengers joined
9612-418: The Speedwell suffered significant leakage, which required the ships to immediately put in at Dartmouth . The leakage was partly caused by being overmasted and being pressed too much with sail. Repairs were completed, and a further delay ensued as they awaited favorable winds. The two ships finally set sail on August 23; they traveled only 200 miles (320 km) beyond Land's End before another major leak in
9790-564: The Stone Fleet in an unsuccessful attempt to blockade the Confederate bay. Along with the poor business and low whale populations, this dealt a potent blow to a failing industry. In the midst of this decline, greater New Bedford's economy became more dependent on the textile industry , which began to eclipse the whaling industry in the late 19th century. The mills grew and expanded constantly, eventually comprising multiple sites along
9968-577: The Underground Railroad . Many people were attracted by New Bedford's relatively open-minded atmosphere. For example, Paul Cuffe —an Ashanti - Wampanoag Quaker and self-made tycoon—among several other remarkable achievements earned black property owners in New Bedford the right to vote decades before Abraham Lincoln even signed the Emancipation Proclamation . Lewis Temple , an African-American blacksmith , invented
10146-952: The Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project (WLRP). It has successfully reintroduced the revived Wampanoag dialect to the Mashpee , Aquinnah , Assonet, and Herring Pond communities of 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
10324-416: The indentured servants . Among the Strangers were Myles Standish , who was the colony's military leader; Christopher Martin , who had been designated by the Merchant Adventurers to act as shipboard governor during the trans-Atlantic trip; and Stephen Hopkins , a veteran of a failed colonial venture that may have inspired Shakespeare 's The Tempest . The group who later became the Leiden Leaders after
10502-512: 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
10680-425: The Atlantic— Cape Verde , the Azores , and Madeira —began arriving in New Bedford and the surrounding area, attracted by jobs in the whaling industry; many had family members who had worked on whaling ships. As the Portuguese community began to increase in population, it established the first Portuguese parish in the city, St. John the Baptist (1871). French Canadians also secured a foothold in New Bedford at about
10858-422: The Christian Bible in 1663 using the Natick dialect, known as Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God , 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
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#173277231487811036-418: 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
11214-452: The Dutch Army. They also were still not free from the persecutions of the English Crown. English authorities came to Leiden to arrest William Brewster in 1618 after he published comments highly critical of the King of England and the Anglican Church . Brewster escaped arrest, but the events spurred the congregation to move farther from England. The congregation obtained a land patent from the Plymouth Company in June 1619. They had declined
11392-402: The Dutch in settling the area. Other tribes in the area sided with the English, including the Narragansetts and Mohegans , who were the traditional enemies of the Pequots. The event that sparked formal hostilities was the capture of a boat and the murder of captain John Oldham in 1636, an event blamed on allies of the Pequots. In April 1637, a raid on a Pequot village by John Endicott led to
11570-484: The French before she could deliver her cargo to England, creating an even larger deficit for the colony. In July 1623, two more ships arrived: the Anne under the command of Captain "Master" William Peirce and Master John Bridges, and the Little James under the command of Captain Emanuel Altham. These ships carried 96 new settlers, among them Leideners, including William Bradford 's future wife Alice and William and Mary Brewster's daughters Patience and Fear. Some of
11748-421: The Indians are run away from their habitations". The only positive effect of Standish's raid seemed to be the increased power of the Massasoit-led Wampanoag tribe, the Pilgrims' closest ally in the region. A second ship arrived in November 1621 named the Fortune , sent by the Merchant Adventurers one year after the Pilgrims first set foot in New England. It arrived with 37 new settlers for Plymouth. However,
11926-560: The Indigenous tribes of Standish's attack; many Natives abandoned their villages and fled the area. As noted by Philbrick: "Standish's raid had irreparably damaged the human ecology of the region ... It was some time before a new equilibrium came to the region." Edward Winslow reports in his 1624 memoirs Good News from New England that "they forsook their houses, running to and fro like men distracted, living in swamps and other desert places, and so brought manifold diseases amongst themselves, whereof very many are dead". The Pilgrims lost
12104-555: 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
12282-552: 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
12460-462: 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
12638-422: 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
12816-690: The Massachusetts Bay Colony annexed the Plymouth Colony in 1691, Quakers already represented a majority of the population of Old Dartmouth. In 1699, with the support of Peleg Slocum , the Quakers built their first meeting house in Old Dartmouth, where the Apponegansett Meeting House is now located. At first, the Old Dartmouth territory was devoid of major town centers, and instead had isolated farms and small, decentralized villages, such as Russells' Mills . One reason for this
12994-660: 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
13172-815: 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
13350-471: 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
13528-614: The Netherlands, settling first in Amsterdam and then in Leiden . In Leiden, the congregation gained the freedom to worship as they chose, but Dutch society was unfamiliar to them. Scrooby had been an agricultural community, whereas Leiden was a thriving industrial center, and they found the pace of life difficult. The community remained close-knit, but their children began adopting the Dutch language and customs, and some also entered
13706-678: The New England colonies (Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut , New Haven , and Plymouth) formed a defensive compact known as the United Colonies of New England . Edward Winslow was already known for his diplomatic skills, and he was the chief architect of the United Colonies. His experience in the United Provinces of the Netherlands during the Leiden years was key to organizing the confederation. John Adams later considered
13884-455: The New World. The shallop was finished on November 27, and a second expedition was undertaken using it, under the direction of Mayflower master Christopher Jones . Thirty-four men went, but the expedition was beset by bad weather; the only positive result was that they found an Indian burial ground and corn that had been intended for the dead, taking the corn for future planting. A third expedition along Cape Cod left on December 6; it resulted in
14062-551: 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
14240-540: The Revolution) and set businesses on fire. Nantucket was even more exposed, and the physical destruction, frozen economy, and import taxes imposed after the war obliterated previous fortunes. New Bedford also had a deeper harbor and was located on the mainland. As a result, New Bedford supplanted Nantucket as the nation's preeminent whaling port, and so began the Golden Age of Whaling. William Rotch (owner of
14418-426: 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
14596-583: The Temple toggle iron, which was the most successful harpoon design. Frederick Douglass , the famous social reformer and orator, also found amnesty in New Bedford and worked at the wharf for three years. The whaling industry went into decline after the 1859 discovery of petroleum in Pennsylvania. Each decade thenceforth saw a gradual decrease in whaling work, activity, and revenue. During the Civil War,
14774-535: The United Colonies to be the prototype for the Articles of Confederation , which was the first attempt at a national American government. Metacomet was the younger son of Massasoit and the heir of Massasoit's position as sachem of the Pokanokets and supreme leader of the Wampanoags. He was known to the colonists as Philip, and he became sachem upon the sudden death of his older brother Wamsutta in 1662, who
14952-530: The age of 18 living with them, 37.5% were married couples living together, 20.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.9% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 3.01. Age distribution was 24.9% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 20.2% from 45 to 64, and 16.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age
15130-535: 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
15308-422: The area were as follows: health services, eating and drinking places, wholesale trade, food stores, and social services. In 2002, the city received $ 61,194,358 in taxation revenue, $ 44,536,201 in local receipts, and $ 12,044,152 classified as other available . In 2005 the unemployment rate was 7.3%, having dropped throughout the 1990s from 12.5% to 5.3% in 2000, and then having risen to 10.4% in 2003. By 2009, in
15486-488: The area, such as whaling merchants from Nantucket, were attracted to the village and helped make it into one of the top whaling cities in the country. The most significant of these merchants was Joseph Rotch , who bought ten acres (four hectares) of land in 1765 from Joseph Russell III on which he and his sons ran the family business. Rotch moved his business to New Bedford since it would be better for refining whale oil and manufacturing candles made from whales. As these parts of
15664-586: The boy. This negotiation did much to secure further peace with the tribes in the area. During their dealings with the Nausets over the release of John Billington, the Pilgrims learned of troubles that Massasoit was experiencing. Massasoit, Squanto, and several other Wampanoags had been captured by Corbitant , sachem of the Narragansett tribe. A party of ten men under the leadership of Myles Standish set out to find and execute Corbitant. While hunting for him, they learned that Squanto had escaped and Massasoit
15842-415: The building progressed, 20 men always remained ashore for security purposes while the rest of the work crews returned each night to the Mayflower . Women, children, and the infirm remained on board the Mayflower , and many had not left the ship for six months. The first structure was a common house of wattle and daub , and it took two weeks to complete in the harsh New England winter. In the following weeks,
16020-420: The chief. The delegation also included Squanto, who acted as a translator. After traveling for several days, they arrived at Massasoit's village of Sowams near Narragansett Bay . After meals and an exchange of gifts, Massasoit agreed to an exclusive trading pact with the Plymouth colonists. Squanto remained behind and traveled throughout the area to establish trading relations with several tribes. In late July,
16198-400: The city is an unnamed hill crossed by Interstate 195 and Hathaway Road west of downtown, with an elevation greater than 180 feet (55 m) above sea level. The Port of New Bedford , also known as New Bedford Harbor, a body of water shared with Fairhaven, is actually the estuary of the Acushnet River where it empties into Buzzards Bay. The river empties into the bay beyond Clark's Point,
16376-492: The city limits. There are several parks and playgrounds, some with splash pads, scattered throughout the city, with the first four being primary parks: New Bedford has a cooler than normal version of a humid subtropical climate that in many aspects resembles a humid continental one, but with slightly milder winters. In spite of being influenced by continental winds with large differences between seasons, temperatures are somewhat moderated compared to areas farther inland. There
16554-542: The city was 72.17% (66.1% Non-Hispanic) White , 9.69% African American , 0.1% Native American , 1.00% Asian , 0.05% Pacific Islander , 13.51% from other races , and 3.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 16.11% of the population. The city is very multi-cultural and diverse. The ethnic makeup of the city is estimated to be 33.8% Portuguese , 10.1% Puerto Rican , 9.1% French , 8.8% Cape Verdean , 6.9% Irish , 5.3% English . There were 39,208 households, of which 31.2% had children under
16732-405: The colonists settled had been identified as "New Plymouth" in maps which John Smith published in 1614. The colonists elected to retain the name for their own settlement, in honor of their final point of departure from Plymouth, Devon . On December 21, 1620, the first landing party arrived at the site of Plymouth . Plans to build houses, however, were delayed by bad weather until December 23. As
16910-679: The colonists' relationship with the indigenous inhabitants of New England to deteriorate. European encroachment and disregard for the terms of the Old Dartmouth Purchase led to King Philip's War in 1675. In this conflict, Wampanoag tribesmen, allied with the Narragansett and the Nipmuc , raided Old Dartmouth and other European settlements in the area. Europeans in Old Dartmouth garrisoned in sturdier homes—John Russell's home at Russells Mills , John Cooke's home in Fairhaven , and
17088-411: The colony should be governed by "just and equal laws," and those who signed it promised to keep those laws. The group remained on board the ship through the next day for prayer and worship, as it was a Sunday. They finally set foot on land at Provincetown on November 13. The first task was to rebuild a shallop , a shallow draft boat that had been built in England and disassembled for transport aboard
17266-421: The colony's relatively short existence, Plymouth holds a special role in American history. The social and legal systems of the colony became closely tied to their religious beliefs, as well as to English custom. Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Brownists (a sect of English Protestant dissenters ) who came to be known as the Pilgrims . The core group (roughly 40 percent of the adults and 56 percent of
17444-463: The colony. The intent of the compact was to establish a means of governing the colony, though it did little more than confirm that the colony would be governed like any English town. It did, however, serve the purpose of relieving the property concerns of many of the settlers. This social contract was written and signed by 41 male passengers . It was modeled on the church covenants that Congregationalists used to form new congregations. It made clear that
17622-530: The concept of land ownership —in contrast with hunting, fishing, and farming rights—was a foreign concept to them. Members of the Religious Society of Friends , also known as Quakers , were among the early European settlers on the South Coast . They had faced persecution in the Puritan communities of Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony ; the latter banned the Quakers in 1656–1657. When
17800-505: 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
17978-581: The dominant whaling port, though the industry was controlled by a cartel of merchants in Boston, Newport, and Providence. In the 1760s, Nantucket's most prominent whaling families moved to New Bedford, refining their own oil and making their own premium candles. The American Revolutionary War completely paralyzed the whaling industry. British forces blockaded American ports and captured or destroyed American commercial ships; they even marched down King's Street in New Bedford (defiantly renamed Union Street after
18156-455: The failed colony at Weymouth, and they stayed temporarily in Plymouth. In March 1624, a ship arrived bearing a few additional settlers and the first cattle. A 1627 division of cattle lists 156 colonists divided into twelve lots of thirteen colonists each. Another ship arrived in August 1629, also named the Mayflower , with 35 additional members of the Leiden congregation. Ships arrived throughout
18334-415: The family groupings) were part of a congregation led in America by William Bradford and William Brewster . They began to feel the pressures of religious persecution while still in the English village of Scrooby , near East Retford , Nottinghamshire. In 1607, Archbishop Tobias Matthew raided homes and imprisoned several members of the congregation. The congregation left England in 1608 and moved to
18512-579: The financing secured from the Merchant Adventurers, the Colonists bought provisions and obtained passage on the Mayflower and the Speedwell . They had intended to leave early in 1620, but they were delayed several months due to difficulties in dealing with the Merchant Adventurers, including several changes in plans for the voyage and financing. The congregation and the other colonists finally boarded
18690-459: The group in Southampton, including William Brewster, who had been in hiding for the better part of a year, and a group of people known to the Leiden congregation as "The Strangers." This group was largely made up of people recruited by the Merchant Adventurers to provide practical assistance to the colony and additional hands to work for the colony's ventures. The term was also used for many of
18868-511: The highest annual value of any fishing port in the United States. The city is also home to the New Bedford Whaling Museum and New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park . Before the 17th century, the lands along the Acushnet River were inhabited by the Wampanoag Native Americans, who had settlements throughout southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket . Their population
19046-846: 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
19224-477: 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
19402-442: The land on which New Bedford would later be built from the Wampanoag in 1652, and the original colonial settlement that would later become the city was founded by English Quakers in the late 17th century. The town of New Bedford itself was officially incorporated in 1787. During the first half of the 19th century, New Bedford was one of the world's most important whaling ports. At its economic height during this period, New Bedford
19580-474: 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
19758-564: 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
19936-502: 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
20114-524: The long-term competitive decline of the local textile industry. Until 1800, New Bedford and its surrounding communities were, by and large, populated by Protestants of English, Scottish, Welsh, and Dutch origin. During the first half of the 19th century many Irish people came to Massachusetts. In 1818, Irish immigrants established the Catholic mission that built St. Mary's Church. Later in that century, immigrants from Portugal and its colonial possessions in
20292-662: The low-wage South. In April 1928 their demand for a 10 percent across the board cut in wages was met with strike action . After considerable controversy control of the large-scale work stoppage passed from the Communist-led Textile Mill Committee (TMC) to sundry craft unions affiliated with the American Federation of Labor who, agreeing to a five percent wage cut, ended the strike in October. Wage reductions were not enough to arrest
20470-477: 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
20648-417: 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
20826-410: 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
21004-481: The men were too infirm to work; 45 out of 102 pilgrims died and were buried on Cole's Hill . Thus, only seven residences and four common houses were constructed during the first winter out of a planned 19. By the end of January, enough of the settlement had been built to begin unloading provisions from the Mayflower . The men of the settlement organized themselves into military orders in mid-February, after several tense encounters with local Indians, and Myles Standish
21182-421: The merging of ships included John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, William Brewster, and Isaac Allerton. The departure of the Mayflower and Speedwell was beset by delays. Further disagreements with the Merchant Adventurers held up the departure in Southampton. A total of 120 passengers finally departed on August 5 – 90 on the Mayflower and 30 on the Speedwell . Leaving Southampton,
21360-551: The midst of the economic crisis of the era, the unemployment rate got as high as 12.4%. In 2005, the city received $ 104,925,772 for education, and $ 22,755,439 for general government from the State of Massachusetts . In 2016, the city hopes its proximity to Massachusetts' southern coastline will allow it to become a center for the growing wind energy market. Three companies, OffshoreMW, Deepwater Wind , and DONG Energy , have leased portions of New Bedford's Marine Commerce Terminal for
21538-499: The midst of the settlement and proclaimed, "Welcome, Englishmen!" It was during this meeting that the Pilgrims learned how the previous residents of Patuxet had died of an epidemic. They also learned that an important leader of the region was Wampanoag Indian chief Massasoit , and they learned about Squanto (Tisquantum) who was the sole survivor from Patuxet. Squanto had spent time in Europe and spoke English quite well. Samoset spent
21716-470: 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
21894-499: 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
22072-453: The murder. Philip had already begun war preparations at his home base near Mount Hope where he started raiding English farms and pillaging their property. In response, Governor Josiah Winslow called out the militia, and they organized and began to move on Philip's position. Philip's men attacked unarmed women and children in order to receive a ransom. One such attack resulted in the capture of Mary Rowlandson . The war continued through
22250-472: 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
22428-425: The night in Plymouth and agreed to arrange a meeting with some of Massasoit's men. Massasoit and Squanto were apprehensive about the Pilgrims, as several men of his tribe had been killed by English sailors. He also knew that the Pilgrims had taken some corn stores in their landings at Provincetown. Squanto himself had been abducted in 1614 by English explorer Thomas Hunt and had spent five years in Europe, first as
22606-480: 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
22784-635: The opportunity to settle south of Cape Cod in New Netherland because of their desire to avoid the Dutch influence. This land patent allowed them to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River . They sought to finance their venture through the Merchant Adventurers , a group of businessmen who principally viewed the colony as a means of making a profit. Upon arriving in America, the Pilgrims began working to repay their debts. Using
22962-414: The original 102 passengers had died during the first winter. As William Bradford wrote, "of these one hundred persons who came over in this first ship together, the greatest half died in the general mortality, and most of them in two or three months' time". Several of the graves on Cole's Hill were uncovered in 1855; their bodies were disinterred and moved to a site near Plymouth Rock. In November 1621,
23140-441: The passengers decided to return north to Cape Cod Bay and abandon their original landing plans. The Pilgrims were not the first Europeans in the area. John Cabot 's discovery of Newfoundland in 1497 had laid the foundation for the extensive English claims over the east coast of America. Cartographer Giacomo Gastaldi made one of the earliest maps of New England c. 1540 , but he erroneously identified Cape Breton with
23318-524: The passengers who arrived on the Anne were either unprepared for frontier life or undesirable additions to the colony, and they returned to England the next year. According to Gleason Archer, "those who remained were not willing to join the colony under the terms of the agreement with the Merchant Adventurers. They had embarked for America upon an understanding with the Adventurers that they might settle in
23496-429: The period between 1629 and 1630 carrying new settlers, though the exact number is unknown; contemporaneous documents indicate that the colony had almost 300 people by January 1630. In 1643, the colony had an estimated 600 males fit for military service, implying a total population of about 2,000. The estimated total population of Plymouth County was 3,055 by 1690, on the eve of the colony's merger with Massachusetts Bay. It
23674-570: The pilgrims celebrated a feast of thanksgiving which became known in the 19th century as "The First Thanksgiving ". The feast was probably held in early October 1621 and was celebrated by the 53 surviving Pilgrims, along with Massasoit and 90 of his men. Three contemporaneous accounts of the event survive: Of Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford, Mourt's Relation probably written by Edward Winslow, and New England's Memorial by Plymouth Colony Secretary (and Bradford's nephew) Capt. Nathaniel Morton . The celebration lasted three days and featured
23852-490: 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
24030-463: The rest of 1675 and into the next year. The colonists were constantly frustrated by the Native Americans' refusal to meet them in pitched battle. They employed a form of guerrilla warfare that confounded the English. Captain Benjamin Church continuously campaigned to enlist the help of friendly Native Americans to help learn how to fight on an even footing with Philip's warrior bands, but he
24208-409: The rest of the settlement slowly took shape. The living and working structures were built on the relatively flat top of Cole's Hill, and a wooden platform was constructed atop nearby Fort Hill to support the cannon that would defend the settlement. During the winter, the Mayflower colonists suffered greatly from lack of shelter, diseases such as scurvy , and general conditions on board ship. Many of
24386-584: The same time, and they built the Church of the Sacred Heart in 1877. Similarly, Polish immigrants began arriving in the late 19th century and established the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 1903. A number of Jewish families, arriving in the late 19th century, were active in the whaling industry, selling provisions and outfitting ships. During the years leading up to the First World War ,
24564-511: The second winter, he helped design and organize the construction of a large palisade wall surrounding the settlement. Standish led two early military raids on Indian villages: the raid to find and punish Corbitant for his attempted coup, and the killing at Wessagussett called "Standish's raid". The former had the desired effect of gaining the respect of the local Indians; the latter only served to frighten and scatter them, resulting in loss of trade and income. The first major war in New England
24742-541: The settlers of the town. The proximate cause of the conflict was the death of a Praying Indian named John Sassamon in 1675. Sassamon had been an advisor and friend to Philip; however, Sassamon's conversion to Christianity had driven the two apart. Accused in the murder of Sassamon were some of Philip's most senior lieutenants. A jury of twelve Englishmen and six Praying Indians found the Native Americans guilty of murder and sentenced them to death. To this day, some debate exists whether King Philip's men actually committed
24920-523: The ship had arrived unexpectedly and also without many supplies, so the additional settlers put a strain on the resources of the colony. Among the passengers of the Fortune were several of the original Leiden congregation, including William Brewster 's son Jonathan, Edward Winslow's brother John, and Philip Delano (the family name was earlier "de la Noye") whose descendants include President Franklin Delano Roosevelt . The Fortune also carried
25098-472: The ship. One death occurred, that of William Button. After two months at sea, they sighted land on November 9, 1620, off the coast of Cape Cod . They attempted to sail south to the designated landing site at the mouth of the Hudson but ran into trouble in the region of Pollock Rip , a shallow area of shoals between Cape Cod and Nantucket Island . With winter approaching and provisions running dangerously low,
25276-422: The site as "New Plimouth." In the Mayflower settlers' first explorations of Cape Cod, they came across evidence that Europeans had previously spent extensive time there. They discovered remains of a European fort and uncovered a grave that contained the remains of both an adult European male and an Indian child. The Mayflower anchored at Provincetown Harbor on November 11, 1620. The Pilgrims did not have
25454-457: The small, 106 feet (32 m) long ship. The seas were not severe during the first month in the Atlantic but, by the second month, the ship was being hit by strong north-Atlantic winter gales, causing it to be badly shaken with water leaks from structural damage. There were many obstacles throughout the trip, including multiple cases of seasickness and the bending and cracking of a main beam of
25632-544: The southernmost point of the city. To the west of Clark's Point is Clark's Cove, which extends landward approximately one and one-half miles from the bay. Just south of Palmer's Island, beginning near Fort Phoenix in Fairhaven, lies a two-mile-long hurricane barrier, constructed in the 1960s to protect the inner harbor where the fishing fleet anchors. Along with Palmer's Island, the city also lays claim to Fish Island and Pope's Island . Between these two islands lies one of
25810-454: 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 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
25988-438: 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
26166-569: 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
26344-499: 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
26522-748: The staging of turbines and platforms. In 1847, the New Bedford Horticultural Society was begun by James Arnold. The Ash Street Jail , which houses inmates from Bristol County, is located in New Bedford. It opened in 1829 and is the oldest continuously operating jail in the United States. Fort Taber and Fort Rodman (also called the "Fort at Clark's Point") were built during the American Civil War and are now in Fort Taber Park. Both forts are often called Fort Taber, including in some references. New Bedford
26700-533: The surname Russell. ( Bedford, Massachusetts , had been incorporated in 1729; hence "New" Bedford.) The late 18th century was a time of growth for the town. A small whale fishery developed, as well as modest international trade. In the 1760s, between the Seven Years' War and the American Revolution , shipwrights, carpenters, mechanics, and blacksmiths, settled around New Bedford harbor, creating
26878-472: The surrounding lands. He showed the Patuxet village (where the town of Plymouth was later built) as a thriving settlement. However, an epidemic wiped out up to 90 percent of the Indians along the Massachusetts coast in 1617–1619, including the Patuxets, before the arrival of the Mayflower . The epidemic has traditionally been thought to be smallpox, but a recent analysis has concluded that it may have been
27056-542: The third expedition, during which Standish fired the first recorded shot by the Pilgrim settlers in an event known as the First Encounter. Standish had training in military engineering from the University of Leiden , and it was he who decided the defensive layout of the settlement when they finally arrived at Plymouth. He also organized the able-bodied men into military orders in February of the first winter. During
27234-499: The three sections, the central section, of the New Bedford-Fairhaven Bridge. The central span, a swing bridge, connects the two islands as well as allowing boats and ships passage to the upper harbor. Two conventional bridges connect each of the islands to the nearest mainland, Fish Island to New Bedford and Pope's Island to Fairhaven. In addition to the harbor, there are several small brooks and ponds within
27412-474: The trade in furs which they had enjoyed with the local tribes, and which was their main source of income for paying off their debts to the Merchant Adventurers. Rather than strengthening their position, Standish's raid had disastrous consequences for the colony, as attested by William Bradford in a letter to the Merchant Adventurers: "we had much damaged our trade, for there where we had most skins
27590-471: The treacherous trans-Atlantic voyage. The delays had significant consequences; the cost of the repairs and port fees required that the colonists sell some of their vital provisions. More importantly, the late-autumn voyage meant that everyone had to spend the coming winter on board the Mayflower off Cape Cod in increasingly squalid conditions. The Mayflower departed Plymouth , England , on September 6, 1620, with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members in
27768-700: 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
27946-432: 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
28124-442: The war that bears his name. Throughout July 1676, Church's band captured hundreds of Native American warriors, often without much of a fight, though Philip eluded him. Church was given permission to grant amnesty to any captured Native Americans who would agree to join the colonial side, and his force grew immensely. Philip was killed by a Pocasset Indian, and the war soon ended as an overwhelming colonial victory. Eight percent of
28302-499: The whalers to render high quality oil from the blubber. This allowed the whaling ships to go out to sea for as long as four years, processing their catch while at sea. Ships from New Bedford came back to port with barrels of oil , spermaceti , and occasionally ambergris . Whaling dominated New Bedford's economy for much of the century, and many families of the city were involved with it as crew and officers of ships. The Quakers remained prominent and influential in New Bedford throughout
28480-404: The whaling era. They brought religious values into their business models, promoting stability as well as prosperity, investing in infrastructure projects such as rail, and employing without discrimination . They established solid social and economic relationships with Boston , New York , and Philadelphia , integrating New Bedford into the urban northeastern economy . Ten thousand men worked in
28658-440: The whaling industry had been monopolized by a merchant cartel in Boston, Newport, Rhode Island , and Providence, Rhode Island, Rotch felt that it would be better for business to handle these himself by moving to the mainland. Massachusett language 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
28836-470: The whaling industry. During this period, New Bedford's population increased from approximately 4,000 in 1820 to about 24,000 in 1860. At the height of the whaling industry in 1857, the harbor hosted 329 vessels worth over $ 12 million, and New Bedford became the richest city per capita in North America. On March 18, 1847, the town of New Bedford officially became a city; Abraham Hathaway Howland
29014-494: Was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 84.4 males. The median household income was $ 37,569, and the median family income was $ 45,708. Males had a median income of $ 37,388 versus $ 27,278 for females. The per capita income for the city was $ 15,602. About 17.3% of families and 20.2% of the population were below the poverty line , including 29.1% of those under age 18 and 15.7% of those age 65 or over. The city has
29192-578: Was abandoned in 1608. Captain John Smith of Jamestown had explored the area in 1614 and is credited with naming the region New England. He named many locations using approximations of Indian words. He gave the name "Accomack" to the Patuxet settlement on which the Pilgrims founded Plymouth, but he changed it to New Plymouth after consulting Prince Charles , son of King James. A map published in his 1616 work A Description of New England clearly shows
29370-589: 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
29548-410: Was also known as Alexander. Indian leaders such as Philip resented the colonists' increasing land acquisitions, and they looked for a means to slow or reverse it. Of specific concern was the founding of the town of Swansea , which was located only a few miles from the Wampanoag capital at Mount Hope . The General Court of Plymouth began using military force to coerce the sale of Wampanoag land to
29726-489: Was back in power. Standish and his men had injured several Native Americans, so the colonists offered them medical attention in Plymouth. They had failed to capture Corbitant, but the show of force by Standish had garnered respect for the Pilgrims and, as a result, nine of the most powerful sachems in the area signed a treaty in September, including Massasoit and Corbitant, pledging their loyalty to King James. In May 1622,
29904-551: 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
30082-545: Was constantly rebuffed by the Plymouth leadership who mistrusted all Native Americans, thinking them potential enemies. Eventually, Governor Winslow and Plymouth military commander Major William Bradford (son of the late Governor William Bradford) relented and gave Church permission to organize a combined force of English and Native Americans. After securing the alliance of the Sakonnets, he led his combined force in pursuit of Philip, who had thus far avoided any major battles in
30260-549: Was designated as the commanding officer. By the end of the month, five cannons had been defensively positioned on Fort Hill. John Carver was elected governor to replace Governor Martin. On March 16, 1621, the first formal contact occurred with the Indians. Samoset was an Abenaki sagamore who was originally from Pemaquid Point in Maine . He had learned some English from fishermen and trappers in Maine, and he walked boldly into
30438-434: Was elected its first mayor. The Quakers of New Bedford applied their principles of egalitarianism and community-building in their businesses. On the boats, at the docks, at the factories, or in the shops—British, Wampanoag , Cape Verdean , Azorean , Irish , and West African hands found work in New Bedford. New Bedford also became one of the first centers of abolitionism in North America , and an important stop on
30616-405: 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
30794-608: Was much smaller than Massachusetts Bay Colony by the time that they merged. Myles Standish was the military leader of Plymouth Colony from the beginning. He was officially designated as the captain of the colony's militia in February 1621, shortly after the arrival of the Mayflower in December 1620. He organized and led the first party from the Mayflower to set foot in New England, an exploratory expedition of Cape Cod upon arrival in Provincetown Harbor. He also led
30972-425: 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,
31150-493: Was short-lived, but it provided the spark for an event that dramatically changed the political landscape between the local tribes and the settlers. Reports reached Plymouth of a military threat to Wessagussett, and Myles Standish organized a militia to defend them. However, he found that there had been no attack. He therefore decided on a pre-emptive strike, an event which historian Nathaniel Philbrick calls "Standish's raid". He lured two prominent Massachusett military leaders into
31328-459: Was the Pequot War of 1637. The war's roots go back to 1632, when a dispute arose between Dutch fur traders and Plymouth officials over control of the Connecticut River Valley near Hartford . Representatives from the Dutch East India Company and Plymouth Colony both had deeds which claimed that they had rightfully purchased the land from the Pequots . A sort of land rush occurred as settlers from Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies tried to beat
31506-464: Was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America , after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony . It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith . The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts . At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of what
31684-400: Was the wealthiest city in North America per capita. New Bedford was also a center of abolitionism at this time. The city attracted many freed or escaped African-American slaves, including Frederick Douglass , who lived there from 1838 until 1841. The city also served as a setting in Herman Melville's 1851 novel Moby-Dick . From 1876 to 1900, New Bedford served as the initial home port for
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