Continuing on with the series on Rhode Island, that tiny New England state, I'd like to talk a little about the the REAL natives of the land before it RI long before RI became a state.


Long before any visitors or settlers came to Rhode Island, the area was already inhabited by Native Americans. And, as we all know, these natives were called Indians because that is what Christopher Columbus thought all natives to be while he believed he was en route to the Orient. The ironic thing is that THESE natives were of Asian descent, possibly originating from areas not too far from India. There is evidence that shows these people were here as far back as 8000 years ago!


This map shows the three most dominant Indian tribes and the areas they occupied. Keep in mind that there were other tribes and sub-tribes. Also keep in mind that each tribe did spillover into other areas within the state and into the neighboring states, meaning Connecticut and Massachusetts. The two most powerful tribes of yesterday that remain as Indian nations today within RI (with some spillover) are the Narragansetts and the Wampanoags. And, as most people learned, the Wampanoags were (and are) primarily located east of Narragansett Bay (which means all the "scraggly" looking parts of the state) and up through Massachusetts, while the Narragansetts occupied everything else.

In an area as small as Rhode Island, many would think that there would only be one tribe. But, there were, in fact, two major tribes, two weaker tribes, and two sub-tribes. All were from the Algonquin family of Indian nations, a loose network of related peoples whose habitat stretched from what is now southern Canada to present day North Carolina.


(The picture is of the meeting of the Narragansetts and Roger Williams. This took place much later in history, but I included it because of the major role the Narragansetts played during that time.)

The largest, and many would say the strongest tribe was the Narragansetts. They occupied most of Rhode Island as a whole, with their true "center" being from just south of what is now Providence through the almost the entire area occupying the rest of that side of the state. (Narragansetts translates into "people of the small point", which makes sense when the locations of most of their villages are taken into account, for they sat on many
"points" of land along the shoreline and near rivers. One such "point" is now the town of Narragansett, which sits along Narragansett Bay.)



The second major tribe, as large (if not larger, territory-wise) was the Wampanoag Indians. They look smaller but it is because they spread as far north as Boston, into Plymouth and Cape Cod, and covered a large area west of Boston into the Berkshire Mountains. They did in fact, cover all of what is considered eastern Rhode Island. (Wampanoags mean "people of the east" or "people of the first light", meaning sunlight. A major roadway that connects the eastern "extremities" to other areas of the state and to points in nearby Massachusetts is appropriately called Wampanoag Trail.)



The Niantics were a weaker tribe that were primarily located in southwestern Rhode Island, along the shore near the present border of Connecticut. They had been natives of Connecticut lands originally, but were forced out by Connecticut's Pequot tribe. Later on, the Niantics were to become part of the Narragansetts. (Niantic means "good earth" or, more literally "people on the point of land on coastal river, which is good earth". There is such a place called Niantic...but it's in original Niantic territory in Connecticut.)



The Nipmuc Indians were also a weaker tribe located in the northwestern corner area of Rhode Island and spilled over into areas over the current borders of the neighboring states, primarily Massachusetts. (Area was not identified on the map.) They were often identified as a branch of the Wampanoags, but later were absorbed by the Narragansetts. (Nipmuc means "fresh water people" or "small pond place".)

As mentioned earlier, there were two sub-tribes. Both were located in very limited areas south of present day Providence and north of the Narragansett Indian "centers", in areas that would be part of today's city of Warwick. The first sub-tribe was the Shawomut (which means "spring", or in full definition related to these people, "at neck of land for canoe crossing", so you can pretty much tell that their land was on a point jutting into a waterway. Just a note: I can see that point from the shore of my town as I look across the bay.) The other sub-tribe was the Cowesetts (which means "pine place" or "people of pine place". There is an area of Warwick known today as Cowesett.) Both of these sub-tribes were absorbed into the Narragansett tribe.



The Pequot Indians, although not native to Rhode Island, did play a role in RI's Native American history. This Connecticut tribe was primarily responsible for the establishment of the Niantics as a Rhode Island tribe after they drove the Niantics out of CT, and because they also took over and held land here in the state for awhile. (Pequot means "destroyers" and most tribes of southern New England will agree that the definition and name fits them well.)