Narragansett
Narragansetts first encountered Europeans in 1524. Relatively unaffected by the massive epidemic of 1616–1617, they became players in the fur trade and a major power in southern New England. In 1636 the tribe allowed Roger Williams and other Puritan dissidents to settle in their territory (now southern Rhode Island), and then joined the English in the Pequot War. Their relationship quickly soured, although negotiators managed to prevent war. But when King Philip'S War erupted in 1675, an English preemptive strike drove the tribe into the conflict. Ninigret, sachem of the neighboring Niantics, remained neutral; his community drew many survivors and gradually became known as Narragansett. By 1750 Ninigret's descendents were selling tribal lands to pay for their rich lifestyle, alienating most in the tribe. After the Revolution many left for Brothertown in New York. Those remaining became the last autonomous tribe in the region, governed by an elected council. In 1880 Rhode Island decided to terminate the tribe and sell its reserve. But kinship and gatherings continued to bring Narragansetts together; the tribe incorporated in 1934 and in 1978 won 1,800 acres from the state. In April 1983 the Narragansett tribe was the first in southern New England to win federal recognition, and in 2000 counted about 2,400 members.
Bibliography
Campbell, Paul R., and LaFantosie, Glenn W. "Scattered to the Winds of Heaven: Narrangansett Indians, 1676–1880." Rhode Island History 37, no. 3 (1978): 66–83.
Simmons, William S. "Narragansett." In Handbook of North American Indians. Edited by William C. Sturtevant et al. Volume 15: The Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 1978.
