Who Are the Wampanoag

Who Are the Wampanoag?

The Wampanoag, originally a confederacy of 69 tribes inhabiting what is now southeastern Massachusetts, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard, and Rhode Island, played a crucial role in the earliest days of contact between Native and European cultures on Turtle Island. Today, out of six Wampanoag communities, the Mashpee Wampanoag (People of the First Light), and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), are federally recognized sovereign tribes living in Massachusetts, Eastern Rhode Island, and Martha’s Vineyard, respectively. […]

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Massasoit Ousamequin

Massasoit Ousamequin – Leader of the Pokanokets

Massasoit Ousamequin. Ever heard of him? He was a famous leader among the Pokanoket people – the people who had lived on the land we call New England, for thousands of years before the Mayflower showed up in 1620 The history of what happened following that famous voyage nearly four-hundred years ago, assigns only a minor part to Massasoit Ousamequin. However, without his leadership and intervention, more famous people such as William Bradford, Myles Standish, […]

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