Pokanoket - History

History

The political seat of the many bands that are collectively known as the Wampanoag Nation was located in the realm of Pokanoket, where one of the most significant historic sites is found on Mount Hope (Potumtuk - The lookout of Pokanoket). At the time of the pilgrims’ arrival in Plymouth the realm of Pokanoket included parts of Rhode Island and much of Southeastern Massachusetts. Pokanoket social organization developed in a manner that differed from neighboring groups, since Pokanoket was more socially striated and politically complex. Archaeological excavations of Pokanoket burial sites indicate that wealth, such as wampum, was concentrated among a few individuals. European historic accounts of Pokanoket social life noted the political authority of the Massasoit (Great Leader). Unique to the Pokanoket was the spiritual and military elite known as the pniese (Pine E' See) who protected and served this Great Leader.

The realm of the Pokanoket was extensive and known to the Pilgrims before they arrived at Plymouth on the Mayflower in 1620. The leader of the Pilgrims, William Bradford, wrote of advice he had received before the Pilgrims sailed: “The Pokanokets, which live to the west of Plymouth, bear an inveterate malice to the English, and are of more strength than all the savages from there to Penobscot . Their desire of revenge was occasioned by an English man, who having many of them on board, made a great slaughter with their murderers and small shot, when (as they say) they offered no injury on their part.” The place of Sowams, consisting of modern day Bristol, Barrington, and Warren, Rhode Island, was the main settlement of the Pokanoket when the Pilgrims arrived. Pauqu-un-auk-it means "Land at the clearing", and Bradford had been told that the land of the Pokanoket had “the richest soil, and much open ground fit for English grain, etc.”, giving hint of the conflicts over land that would soon develop.

When the Italian captain Giovanni de Verrazano sailed into Narragansett Bay in 1524, natives, most likely Pokanokets, appeared on the shores. The navigator’s recorded latitude of 41”40” north corresponds to Mount Hope Bay, where the seat of the Pokanoket is located. Verrazano wrote of these Rhode Island natives whom he encountered: “These people are the most beautiful and have the most civil customs we have found on this voyage.”

The Pilgrims lost more than half of their people due to sickness and starvation over the first winter. The Pokanoket felt sympathy for the Pilgrims' plight and began to teach them how to plant crops and live in this country. Despite the fears initially felt by the Pilgrims, the Pokanoket quickly reached a pact of peace with the new settlers. Bradford referred to the Pokanoket leader as “their great Sachem, called Massasoit”. It is not clear whether Bradford understood Massasoit to be a hereditary title rather than a name, and that confusion continued. When the Massasoit, whose name was Ousamequin, died, he was succeeded as Great Leader of the Pokanoket Nation by his sons, first by Wamsutta, who was perhaps poisoned, and then by Metacomet (also known as King Philip), who was killed in the Great New England War of 1675–1676. Neither son was referred to by the European settlers as Massasoit. The sons however, were known as kings during their time as Massasoits of the Pokanoket. Ousamequin had made peace with King James I of Britain, reaffirmed later in 1636, in which Britain had agreed through Governor Carver that forevermore Ousamequin's sons and his line would carry the royal titles of Prince or Princess. Ousamequin's request that his sons receive "English" names in Plymouth was granted, and they were given the name Alexander for Wamsutta, and Philip for Metacomet. Although the settlers did not call the Pokanoket leaders by the title Massasoit after Ousamequin died, they did refer to them as Kings, and the Great New England War was called King Philip's War by the settlers, named after Metacomet.

During this period, the Pokanoket first treatied with the English colonists of present-day Massachusetts. Continued tensions and encroachment by English settlements led to the outbreak of fighting in King Philip's War in 1675. Mount Hope (Rhode Island) was the site of the royal seat of the Pokanoket people.

Pokanoket was the tribe of the Wampanoag Nation that had the "first Thanksgiving" with the Pilgrims.

Pokanoket is also the name of the dialect of Massachusett spoken among the Wampanoag.