The Wampanoag Nation was a confederation of Indigenous peoples who lived in what is now eastern Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and parts of Connecticut for approximately 12,000 years. Their coastal, partly nomadic communities farmed, fished, and hunted, relying on a system of agriculture that featured corn, beans, and squash. Wampanoag society was largely matrilineal, with property passed through women, even as men often held formal political roles.
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Explore Thanksgiving beyond the familiar Pilgrim narrative and learn about the Wampanoag Nation. Trace how early cooperation gave way to disease, conflict, and loss—and how Wampanoag traditions and perspectives continue to shape the understanding of the holiday today.
Thanksgiving may be synonymous with turkey and pie today, but its roots trace back to a 1621 feast between Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, who gathered to celebrate the settlers’ first successful harvest.
For more than 10,000 years, native Wampanoag people have lived in and around Rhode Island and Massachusetts, especially in the islands known today as Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. Roughly 5,000 dwell in the area today, after their numbers declined amid European migration.
Around the time of the first Thanksgiving, the Wampanoag lived in a broad swath of New England, including Cape Cod and the islands ringing it. This map shows the historic territory of the tribe, complete with the native and contemporary names of towns and villages.
In the 17th century, Native Americans cultivated a three-plant combination of corn, beans, and squash—a symbiotic tradition dating back hundreds of years. The corn allowed the beans to climb, the beans fertilized the plants by extracting nitrogen from the air, and the squash leaves protected the soil and preserved moisture. Learn more about the tradition here.
Such societies also viewed women as leaders in spiritual matters. Both men and women held political roles as clan leaders and worked in tandem with an advisory council.
Ojibwe author and academic David Treuer talks about his push for 80 million acres of American national park land to be returned to indigenous stewards. Treuer proposes the government grant control of this land to a consortium of tribes, who would maintain and manage it for use by all Americans.
By 1621, Native Americans had been interacting with European explorers along the coasts for hundreds of years. European adventurers, including Giovanni da Verrazzano, mapped the coastline as early as 1524, as this timeline from the National Museum of the American Indian explains.
The Wampanoag people, weakened by disease, were at risk of being forcefully subsumed by the neighboring Narragansett tribe. Recognizing an opportunity, the Wampanoag offered the settlers necessary survival skills in exchange for protection through the settlers’ firearms. The treaty remained in place for more than 40 years.
This video explores Plains Indian Sign Language, part of a broader system known as Hand Talk that dates back centuries. It traces regional variations across North America—and how residential schools worked to suppress its use.
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