Massasoit (died 1661) was a principal leader of the Wampanoag The Wampanoag, also rendered Wôpanâak, are an American Indian tribe. They were a loose confederacy made up of several tribes in the 17th century, but today Wampanoag people are enrolled in two federally recognized tribes: the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe and the Wampanoag Tribe of … British colonization of the Americas began in 1607 in Jamestown, Virginia, and reached its peak when colonies had been established throughout the Americas. The English, and later the British, were among the most important colonizers of the Americas, and their American empire came to surpass the Spanish American colonies in military and economic might.Wampanoag
British colonization of the Americas
Narragansett Bay
Narragansett Bay is a bay and estuary on the north side of Rhode Island Sound covering 147 mi², 120.5 mi² of which is in Rhode Island. The Bay forms New England's largest estuary, which functions as an expansive natural harbor and includes a small archipelago. Small parts of it ext…
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a geographic cape extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer months.
Who was Chief Massasoit?
Updated May 15, 2019. Chief Massasoit (1580–1661), as he was known to the Mayflower Pilgrims, was the leader of the Wampanoag tribe. Also known as The Grand Sachem as well as Ousemequin (sometimes spelled Woosamequen), Massasoit played a major role in the success of the Pilgrims.
What is the significance of Massasoit?
Massasoit. Massasoit, (born c. 1590, near present Bristol, Rhode Island, U.S.—died 1661, near Bristol), Wampanoag Indian chief who throughout his life maintained peaceful relations with English settlers in the area of the Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts. Massasoit was the grand sachem (intertribal chief) of all the Wampanoag Indians,...
What tribe did Massasoit belong to?
Massasoit was a chief of the Wampanoag in the 1600s. The Wampanoag were Native Americans who lived in what is now Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Massasoit kept peace with the Pilgrims, a group of English settlers who set up a colony on his tribe’s land.
Why were the pilgrims impressed with Massasoit as a leader?
The Wampanoag were under threat from the powerful Narragansett. By 1621, the Mayflower Pilgrims had lost half of their original population of 102 people as well; it was in this vulnerable state that Massasoit as the Wampanoag leader sought alliances with the equally-as-vulnerable pilgrims. The Pilgrims were impressed with Massasoit.
Why is Massasoit important?
Massasoit, (born c. 1590, near present Bristol, Rhode Island, U.S.—died 1661, near Bristol), Wampanoag Indian chief who throughout his life maintained peaceful relations with English settlers in the area of the Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts.
What kind of leader was Massasoit?
Massasoit was humane and honest, kept his word, and endeavored to imbue his people with a love of peace. He kept the Pilgrims advised of any warlike designs toward them by other tribes.
Who are the Massasoit in Plymouth Plantation?
When the Mayflower landed in Massachusetts in 1620, one of the first native leaders the Pilgrims met was Massasoit, the intertribal chief of the Wampanoag Nation. The Wampanoag, whose people still live in New England today, once had tribal lands that stretched from Cape Code to Rhode Island.
Why did Massasoit assist European settlers?
To the Pilgrims, Massasoit's motive for the deal was obvious: the Indian leader wanted guns. “He thinks we may be [of] some strength to him,” Winslow said later, “for our pieces [guns] are terrible to them.”
What did Massasoit accomplish?
Massasoit (died 1661) was a principal leader of the Wampanoag people in the early 1600s who encouraged friendship with English settlers. As leader of the Wampanoag, Massasoit exercised control over a number of Indian groups that occupied lands from Narragansett Bay to Cape Cod in present-day Massachusetts.
Why does Massasoit decide to help the colonists in Plymouth?
Massasoit was told that King James of England saluted him with love and peace, and accepted him as a friend and ally. Massasoit liked what he heard; the English would make powerful allies against his enemies in the region. The Pilgrims wanted a peace treaty, and so he willingly undertook the negotiations.
What happened to Massasoit?
Between 1649 and 1657, under pressure from the English, he sold several large tracts of land in Plymouth Colony. After abdicating his leadership to his eldest son Wamsutta (aka Alexander), Massasoit is said to have gone to live the rest of his days with the Quaboag who maintained the highest respect for the sachem.
Was Massasoit at the first Thanksgiving?
Equally vital for Pilgrim and Wampanoag security was Massasoit's insistence on a mutual agreement to defend each other if attacked by the nearby Narragansett. When the Pilgrims decided to celebrate a bountiful harvest of Thanksgiving, Massasoit was invited and brought 90 warriors as guests.
Who were Massasoit and Squanto?
Samoset, Massasoit, and Tisquantum, or Squanto, were three indigenous men who played a key role when the Mayflower first landed in Massachusetts. "1620: Beyond Thanksgiving" is produced by NBC News Learn in partnership with NBC 10 Boston.
How would you describe the relationship between Massasoit leader of the Wampanoag and Winslow?
Peace and Friendship Winslow, who became Massasoit's friend, wrote that he trusted him. Sometimes two or three Pilgrims had gone into the woods, working or hunting, and the Wampanoags didn't harm them, though it would have been easy to do so.
What was the name of the Indian who translated for Massasoit when he negotiated his treaty with Governor Carver?
SquantoWith the help of one of Massasoit's men, Squanto, a Patuxet man who had been taken as a slave by an Englishman and had lived briefly in England, they were able to communicate sufficiently at least to understand each other in broad terms.
Who was the Indian at the first Thanksgiving?
Winslow's account records “many of the Indians coming amongst us, and amongst the rest their greatest king Massasoit, with some ninety men.” Massasoit (who was actually named Ousemequin) was the sachem (leader) of the Pokanoket Wampanoag, a local Native American society that had begun dealings with the colonists ...
Early Life
Colonists' Arrival
- When the Pilgrims landed in Plymouthin 1620, the Wampanoag had suffered devastating population losses due to a plague brought by Europeans in 1616; estimates are that upwards of 45,000, or two-thirds of the entire Wampanoag nation, had perished. Many other tribes had also suffered extensive losses throughout the 15th century due to European diseases. The arrival of t…
Peace, War, and Protection
- When Massasoit entered into a treaty of mutual peace and protection with the pilgrims in 1621, there was more at stake than a simple desire to make friends with the newcomers. Other tribes in the region were entering into agreements with the English colonies as well. For example, the Shawomet Purchase (today's Warwick, Rhode Island), in which sachems Pumhom and Suconon…
Later Years and Death
- Massasoit is often held up in American history as a hero because of his alliance and assumed love for the English, and some of the documentation hints at an overestimation of his esteem for them. For example, in one story when Massasoit contracted an illness in March 1623, Plymouth colonist Winslow is reported to have come to the side of the dying ...
Legacy
- Peace between the Wampanoag Nation and the Pilgrims lasted for four decades after the 1621 treaty, and centuries after his death, Massasoit has not been forgotten. For more than 300 years, Massasoit, and many artifacts related to his time as chief were buried in Burr’s Hill Park, which overlooks Narragansett Bay in the present-day town of Warren, Rhode Island. A confederation o…
Sources
- Daley, Jason. “Massasoit, Chief Who Signed Treaty With the Pilgrims, To Be Reburied.” Smithsonian.com, Smithsonian Institution, 21 Apr. 2017.
- Hayes, Ted. “Burrs Hill Re-Burial to Be Solemn, Private Affair.” RhodyBeat, 12 May 2017.
- “Massasoit.” MayflowerHistory.com.
- “Massasoit Quotes." AZ Quotes.