 Pequot Museum Exhibit showing Mashantucket Pequot warrior | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1620: 16,000 (est.)[1] 1637: 3,000 (est.) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, Lantern Hill, North Stonington, Connecticut:1,130 Mashantucket Pequot Tribe or Western Pequot,Ledyard, Connecticut:350 | |
| Languages | |
| Historically Pequot, a dialect of theMohegan-Pequot language (anAlgonquian language), now English | |
| Religion | |
| Native American religion,Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mohegan/Mohigan |
ThePequot (/ˈpiːkwɒt/)[2] are aNative American people ofConnecticut. The modern Pequot are members of the federally recognizedMashantucket Pequot Tribe, four other state-recognized groups in Connecticut including theEastern Pequot Tribal Nation, or theBrothertown Indians ofWisconsin.[3] They historically spoke Pequot, a dialect of theMohegan-Pequot language, which became extinct by the early 20th century. Some tribal members are undertaking revival efforts.
The Pequot and theMohegan were formerly a single group, but the Mohegan split off in the 17th century as the Pequot came to control much of Connecticut. Simmering tensions with theNew England Colonies led to thePequot War of 1634–1638, which some historians consider to be a genocide under modern day terms,[4] which dramatically reduced the population and influence of the Pequot; many members were killed, enslaved, or dispersed. Small numbers of Pequots remain in Connecticut, receiving reservations atMashantucket in 1666 and at thePawcatuck River in 1683; others lived in different areas and with other tribes. In the 18th century, some Christian Pequot joined members of several other groups to form theBrothertown Indians in westernNew Hampshire. They relocated to westernNew York in the 19th century, where they were allowed land by theOneida people of theIroquois League, and later to Wisconsin, where they were granted a reservation.[5]
TheMashantucket Pequot Tribe receivedfederal recognition in 1983 through a settlement of a land claim. In 1986, they founded theFoxwoods Resort Casino on their land. Located in proximity to theNew York City metropolitan area, it has become one of the country's most successfulNative American casinos.[6]
The Pawcatuck River Pequot formed theEastern Pequot Tribal Nation, which is recognized by Connecticut but is not federally recognized. Additionally, Pequot descendants are enrolled in the federally recognizedMohegan Tribe, as well as theSchaghticoke Tribal Nation andGolden Hill Paugussett Indian Nation of Connecticut, and the Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin, which also have degrees of state recognition.[3] ThePoospatuck Reservation onLong Island is home to a few hundred self-identified Pequot descendants.
Pequot is anAlgonquian word whose meaning is disputed among language specialists. Considerable scholarship on the Pequot claims that the name came fromPequttôog, meaning "the destroyers" or "the men of the swamp".Frank Speck was a leading specialist of theMohegan-Pequot language in the early twentieth century, and he believed that another term was more plausible, meaning "the shallowness of a body of water", given that the Pequot territory was along the coast ofLong Island Sound.[7][8]
Historians have debated whether the Pequot migrated about 1500 from the upperHudson River Valley toward central and easternConnecticut. The theory of Pequot migration to theConnecticut River Valley can be traced to Rev. William Hubbard, who claimed in 1677 that the Pequot had invaded the region sometime before the establishment ofPlymouth Colony, rather than originating in the region. In the aftermath ofKing Philip's War, Hubbard detailed in hisNarrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England the ferocity with which some ofNew England's tribes responded to the English. Hubbard described the Pequot as "foreigners" to the region; not invaders from another shore, but "from the interior of the continent" who "by force seized upon one of the goodliest places near the sea, and became a Terror to all their Neighbors."[9]
Much of the archaeological, linguistic, and documentary evidence now available demonstrates that the Pequot were not invaders to the Connecticut River Valley but were indigenous in that area for thousands of years.[10] By the time of the founding ofPlymouth andMassachusetts Bay colonies, the Pequot had already attained a position of political, military, and economic dominance in central and eastern Connecticut. They occupied the coastal area between theNiantic tribe of theNiantic River of Connecticut and theNarragansett in westernRhode Island. The Pequot numbered some 16,000 persons in the most densely inhabited portion of southern New England.[1]
Thesmallpox epidemic of 1616–1619 killed many of the Native Americans of the eastern coast of New England, but it did not reach the Pequot, Niantic, and Narragansett tribes. In 1633, the Dutch established a trading post called the House of Good Hope atHartford. They executed the principal Pequotsachem Tatobem because of a violation of an agreement. After the Pequot paid the Dutch a large ransom, they returned Tatobem's body to his people. His successor wasSassacus.
In 1633, an epidemic devastated all of the region's tribes, and historians estimate that the Pequot suffered the loss of 80 percent of their population. At the outbreak of thePequot War, Pequot survivors may have numbered only about 3,000.[11]
Members of the Pequot tribe killed a resident ofConnecticut Colony in 1636,John Oldham, and war erupted as a result.[12] TheMohegan and theNarragansett tribes sided with the colonists. Around 1,500 Pequot warriors were killed in battles or hunted down, and others were captured and distributed as slaves or household servants. A few escaped to join theMohawk and theNiantic tribes onLong Island. Eventually, some returned to their traditional lands, where family groups of friendly Pequots had stayed. Of those enslaved, most were awarded to the allied tribes, but many were also sold as slaves in Bermuda.[13][14] The Mohegans treated their Pequot captives so severely that officials of Connecticut Colony eventually removed them. Connecticut established two reservations for the Pequots in 1683: the Eastern Pequot Reservation inNorth Stonington, Connecticut and the Western Pequots (or Mashantucket Pequot Reservation) inLedyard.
The poor treatment the Pequot received at the hands of the colonists was remembered almost two centuries later by otherNative American tribes such as some groups ofShawnees.[15] It was commonly thought that they had disappeared entirely due to violence against Native Americans provoked by American colonists,[15] although this was not true.
The 1910 census numbered the Pequot population at 66,[16] and they reached their lowest number several decades later. Pequot numbers grew significantly during the 1970s and 1980s, especially the Mashantucket Pequot tribe which opened a casino in the same timeframe, and tribal chairmanRichard A. Hayward encouraged them to return to their tribal homeland. He worked for Federal recognition and economic development.[17]
In 1976, the Pequots filed suit with the assistance of theNative American Rights Fund (NARF) and the Indian Rights Association against landowners and residents of North Stonington to get their land, which the Pequots claimed had been illegally sold in 1856 by the State of Connecticut, and they settled after seven years. The Connecticut Legislature passed legislation to petition the federal government to grant tribal recognition to the Mashantucket Pequots, and the "Mashantucket Pequot Indian Land Claims Settlement Act" was enacted by Congress and signed by PresidentRonald Reagan on October 18, 1983.[18] This settlement granted federal recognition to the Mashantucket Pequot tribe, enabling them to buy the land covered in the Settlement Act and place it in trust with theBureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) for reservation use.[19] In 1986, they opened a bingo operation, followed by the first phase ofFoxwoods Resort Casino in 1992. Revenue from the casino has enabled the development and construction of a cultural museum which opened on August 11, 1998, on theMashantucket Pequot Reservation where many members of the tribe continue to live.
TheEastern Pequot Tribal Nation was recognized in 2002. Since the 1930s, both Pequot tribes had serious tension over racial issues, with some people claiming that darker-skinned descendants should not be considered fully Pequot. Two groups of Eastern Pequots filed petitions for recognition with the BIA, and they agreed to unite to achieve recognition. The state immediately challenged the decision, and the Department of the Interior revoked their recognition in 2005. That same year, it revoked recognition for theSchaghticoke tribe who had gained recognition in 2004. The Connecticut state government and Congressional delegation opposed the BIA's recognition because residents were worried that the newly recognized tribes would establish gaming casinos.
The 1130-memberEastern Pequot Tribal Nation has a reservation called "Lantern Hill." TheEastern Pequot Tribal Nation is recognized by the state ofConnecticut.
The 800+Mashantucket Pequot orWestern Pequot gained federal recognition in 1983 and have a reservation inLedyard.
ThePoospatuck Reservation onLong Island is also home to a few hundred self-identified Pequot descendants.
Nearly all individuals who are identified as Pequot live in the two above-named communities.
Historically, the Pequots spoke a dialect of theMohegan-Pequot language, anEastern Algonquian language. TheTreaty of Hartford concluded thePequot War in 1637, when the colonists made speaking the language a capital offense. Within a generation or so, it became largely extinct. Pequot from both theEastern Pequot Tribal Nation and theMashantucket Pequot now speak English as their first language.
In the 21st century, the Mashantucket Pequot are undertaking aggressive efforts to revive the language. They are conducting careful analysis of historical documents containing Pequot words and comparing them to extant closely related languages. So far, they have reclaimed more than 1,000 words, though that is a small fraction of what would be necessary for a functional language. The Mashantucket Pequots have begun offering language classes with the help of the MashpeeWampanoag.[20] The Wampanoag recently initiated the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project.[21] The southern New England Indian communities participating in the Wôpanâak Language Reclamation Project are Mashpee Wampanoag, Aquinnah Wampanoag, Herring Pond Wampanoag, and Mashantucket Pequot.
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