The Native people who live in the region are known as the Wampanoag which translates to “The People of the First Light”. They have continuously inhabited the land they called Patuxet possibly as long as 15,000 years. They had contact and traded with European since the 16th century. Not all contact, however, was friendly. In 1614, Tisquantum (Squanto) was abducted along with 20 other Wampanoag and 7 Nauset men and taken to Spain to be sold as slaves. It is unclear how but Tisquantum ends up in England but there he learns English.  In 1619 he returned to Patuxet only to find his people, as well as other surrounding villages, wiped out by a plague. In March 1621 contact between the colonists and the Pokanoket Wampanoag occurred. Tisquatum became a translator and advisor for sachem Ousamequin (Massasoit) whose people instructed the Pilgrims in agriculture and fishing. Ousamequin and other Wampanoag sachems benefited as well. Because of the Wampanoag’s depleted numbers due to plagues, the Pilgrims provided military support against the Wampanoag’s rivals the Narrgansett of Cape Cod. This relationship brokered the longest lasting peace treaty between Native peoples and settlers in United States history lasting  about 50 years. The treaty had 6 parts. neither party would harm the other. If anything was stolen, it would be returned and the offending person would be punished by their own people. Weapons were left behind during meetings and finally each would be an ally in times of war.

Today, about 4000 Wampanoag live in New England which include the communities of Aquinnah, Mashpee, Herring Pond ,Assonet, Chappaquiddick, Pocasset and Seaconke.  They also include a community in the Carribbean who are the descendants of those who were sold as slaves after the war between the Wampanoag and the English.

For more information, please see:

The Wampanoag Way (Grades 1-4)

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