HIST 223 Lecture Notes - Lecture 13: Connecticut River, Canonicus, New Netherland
Week 10
November 2nd, 2016
Algonquians and Puritans in New England
Algonquian Peoples of Southern New England
•varied landscapes of forests, rivers, ponds, swamps, coasts, islands
•semi-sedentary villagers; maize staple crop
•importance of hunting and fishing, much seasonal movement
•Wigwam: small, light, structure
•poles covered with tree bark
•Sachem: chief, collects tribute, distributes gifts within and beyond village
•not as fully instituted chiefdoms as Algonquians of Chesapeake Bay
•External relations; tribute-based alliance or rivalry/war
•early contacts with European fishers and traders
•epidemics and population decline in coastal New England, early 17th century
Settlers: Puritans and Others
•New Netherlands: Dutch on Hudson and Connecticut Rivers
•Mayflower pilgrims found Plymouth, 1621
•Wampanoag did welcome the English settlers on the assumption they would be part of the
existing configurations of power and alliance
•the settlers negotiate a place for themselves in Algonquian society
•“Great Migration” to Mass bay, 1630-43
•the English come with guns and set up forts with cannons which causes friction between the
natives and settlers, causing small skirmishes and bloodshed which ultimately ruins the
alliance originally set up
•Puritans look at devastation of native population from epidemics is Divine Providence making
room for them (we belong here, we are the real natives)
•Can native land be appropriated?
•settlers negotiate alliances on local levels as they expand over wider areas
•“Indian Deed” for Providence Rhode Island signed in 1638, agreement concluded between
Roger Williams and Canonicus and Miantonoma in 1636
•Sachems negotiate agreements of alliance and territorial accommodation
•agreement of co-residence and mutual support that gets transformed into a deal of sale
later by the English
Destruction of the Pequots
•Dutch-English Rivalry along Connecticut River
•Fur trade and coastal wampum industry
•Narragansett-Pequot rivalry for regional ascendency
•tensions lead to Massachusetts Bay colony-Connecticut colony-Narragansett war on Pequots
•Massacre of Pequots on Mystic River, 1637
•the Pequots are slaughtered after their defeat (including women and children), against the
wishes of the Narragansett
