The Wampanoag are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people whose homelands are in what is now southeastern Massachusetts and eastern Rhode Island, including Cape Cod, Martha’s Vineyard, and nearby islands. Their name is often translated as “People of the First Light,” reflecting their location along the Atlantic coast where the sun first rises.
Homelands and population
Before large-scale English settlement in the 1600s, the Wampanoag lived in dozens of villages across coastal New England, with estimates of up to about 40,000 people in 67 communities. Their territory included coastal areas, rivers, and islands such as Noepe (Martha’s Vineyard) and Natocket (Nantucket), and some Wampanoag communities have lived there for thousands of years.
Traditional life and culture
Traditionally, the Wampanoag were semi-sedentary, moving seasonally between established sites to farm, fish, and hunt. They grew corn, beans, and squash (often called the “Three Sisters”) and relied heavily on fishing, shellfish, and game, combining agriculture with gathering wild plants.
Early colonial relations
When the English Pilgrims arrived in 1620, they landed in Wampanoag territory, and the Wampanoag leader Massasoit made a peace and alliance treaty with them that lasted for several decades. Wampanoag people, including figures such as Massasoit and Tisquantum (Squanto), taught the newcomers farming and survival techniques and traded with them, although growing English expansion, land loss, disease, and conflict later led to wars such as King Philip’s War in the 1670s, which devastated many Wampanoag communities.
Survival and present-day tribes
Despite disease, displacement, enslavement, and attempts at forced assimilation, Wampanoag people survived and maintained their identity in their homelands. Today, there are federally recognized Wampanoag tribes, including the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah), as well as other organized Wampanoag communities, all working to preserve language, culture, and land rights.
