The Wampanoag tribe
of Native Americans is famous as the group that helped the Pilgrims of Plymouth
Colony. They participated in the first Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims in 1621.
The Wampanoags
traditionally lived in what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The tribe
was made up of many groups, each living in separate areas. Wampanoag leaders
were called sachem, and sachems could be men or women. Women owned the land in
the Wampanoag tribe.
The tribe lived
mostly in one area, fishing, hunting and growing food. The principle crops were
corn, squash and beans, called the “three sisters.”
When the Europeans
arrived in the early 17th century, the Wampanoags were exposed to diseases they
had never had before. Many became ill and died. The Europeans also took tribal
members as slaves, selling them in European ports.
The Pilgrims arrived
in 1620. The Wampanoag helped the Pilgrims through their first hard years,
selling them land and giving them food. One Wampanoag in particular, a man
named Squanto, helped the Pilgrims learn to farm corn and fish in the area.
The Puritans, a
different group of English settlers, arrived in the Massachusetts area around
1630. Their relationship with the Wampanoag was not as friendly. The Puritans
and other English settlers often took the Wampanoags’ land without paying for
it. By 1675, the tension was so great that the Wampanoags and the English went
to war. The war was called King Philip’s War, after a Wampanoag sachem named
Metacomet who had taken the English name of Philip.
By the time the war
was over in 1676, only 400 Wampanoags were left in Massachusetts. The rest had
been killed in the war or taken as slaves.
