Algonquian

Monacan Tribe

Monacan Indians (possibly from an Algonquian word signifying a digging stick or spade). A tribe and confederacy of Virginia in the 17th century. The confederacy occupied the upper waters of James river above the falls at Richmond. Their chief village was Rasawek. They were allies of the Manahoac and enemies of the Powhatan, and spoke a language different from that of either. They were finally incorporated with other remnants under the names of Saponi and Tutelo. The confederacy was composed of the Monacan proper, Massinacac, Mohemencho, Monahassano, Monasiccapano, and some other tribes. The Monacan proper had a chief settlement, known … Read more

Nipissing Tribe

Nipissing Indians, Nipissing Nation, Nipissing First Nation, Nipissing People (‘at the little water or lake’, referring to Lake Nipissing; Nipisirinien, ‘little-water people’). A tribe of the Algonkin. When they first became known to the French, in 1613, they were residing in the vicinity of Lake Nipissing, Ontario, which has been their home during most of the time to the present. Having been attacked, about 1650, by the Iroquois, and many of them slain, they fled for safety to Lake Nipigon , where Allouez visited them in 1667, but they were again on Lake Nipissing in 1671. A part of the tribe afterward … Read more

Noquet Tribe

Noquet Indians (No´ke, ‘bear foot’; another name for the Bear gens (see Noka) of the Chippewa. W. J.) An Algonquian tribe located by the earliest French writers about Noquet bay, at the mouth of Green Bay, extending north across the peninsula to Lake Superior.  In 1659 they were attached to the mission at St. Michel, together with the Menominee, Winnebago, and others. In 1761 Jefferys, probably on the authority of some recent French writer, says they were on the island at the mouth of Green Bay, formerly occupied by the Potawatomi.  They were never prominent as a tribe, and were … Read more

Ononchataronon Tribe

Ononchataronon Indians, Ononchataronon Nation, Ononchataronon First Nation, Ononchataronon People (Huron name). An Algonkin tribe or band that occupied the district near Montreal, Canada, between St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers, and wintered near the Hurons. In 1642 they were but a remnant. They claimed to have been the original occupants of Montreal Island and of a large territory on both sides of the St Lawrence. They said they had been conquered and dispersed by Hurons, who were then their enemies, and that the survivors of the war had taken refuge with the Abnaki or the Iroquois or had joined the Hurons. Hochelaga, the … Read more

Manahoac Tribe

Manahoac Indians (Algonquian: ‘they are very merry.’ – Tooker). A confederacy or group of small tribes or bands possibly Siouan, in north Virginia, in 1608, occupying the country from the falls of the rivers to the mountains and from the Potomac to North Anna river. They were at war with the Powhatan and Iroquois, and in alliance with the Monacan, but spoke a language different from any of their neighbors.  Among their tribes Smith mentions the Manahoac, Tanxnitania, Shackaconia, Ontponea, Tegninateo, Whonkenti, Stegaraki, and Hassinunga, and says there were others.  Jefferson confounded them with the Tuscarora.  Mahaskahod is the only … Read more

Matinecoc Tribe

Matinecoc Indians. An Algonquian tribe which formerly inhabited the northwest coast of Long Island, New York, from Newtown, Queens county, to Smithtown, Suffolk county. They had villages at Flushing, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, and Cow Harbor, but even before the intrusion of the whites they had become greatly reduced, probably through wars with the Iroquois, to whom they paid tribute. In 1650 Secretary Van Tienhoven reported but 50 families left of this once important tribe. Ruttenber includes them in his Montauk group, which is about equivalent to Metoac; but the interrelationship of the tribes in the western part of … Read more

Mattabesec Tribe

Mattabesec Indians (from massa-sepuēs-et, ‘at a [relatively] great rivulet or brook. Trumbull). An important Algonquian tribe of Connecticut, formerly occupying both banks of Connecticut river from Wethersfield to Middletown or to the coast and extending westward indefinitely. The Wongunk, Pyquaug, and Montowese Indians were apart of this tribe. According to Ruttenber they were a part of the Wappinger, and perhaps occupied the original territory from which colonies went out to overrun the country as far as Hudson river. The same author says their jurisdiction extended over all south west Connecticut, including the Mahackeno, Uncowa, Paugusset, Wepawaug, Quinnipiac, Montowese, Sukiang, and … Read more

Mohegan Tribe

Mohegan Indians (from maïngan, ‘wolf.’ Trumbull). An Algonquian tribe whose chief seat appears originally to have been on Thames river, Conn., in the north part of New London county. They claimed as their proper country all the territory watered by the Thames and its branches north to within 8 or 10 miles of the Massachusetts line, and by conquest a considerable area extending north and east into Massachusetts and Rhode Island, occupied by the Wabaquasset and Nipmuc. On the west their dominion extended along the coast to East river, near Guilford, Conn. After the destruction of the Pequot in 1637 … Read more

Mahican Tribe

Mahican Indians (‘wolf’). An Algonquian tribe that occupied both banks of upper Hudson River, in New York, extending north almost to Lake Champlain. To the Dutch they were known as River Indians, while the French grouped them and the closely connected Munsee and Delawares under the name of Loups (‘wolves’). The same tribes were called Akochakaneñ (‘stammerers’ ) by the Iroquois. On the west bank they joined the Munsee at Catskill creek, and on the east bank they joined the Wappinger near Poughkeepsie. They extended north into Massachusetts and held the upper part of Housatonic valley. Their council fire was … Read more

Hatteras Tribe

Hatteras Indians. An Algonquian tribe living in 1701 on the sand banks of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina east of Pamlico sound, and frequenting Roanoke Island.  Their single village, Sandbanks, had them only about 80 inhabitants.  They showed traces of white blood and claimed that some of their ancestors were white.  They may have been identical with the Croatan Indians with whom Raleigh’s colonists at Roanoke Island are supposed to have taken refuge.

Algonquian Indian Research

Algonquian Family (adapted from the name of the Algonkin tribe). A linguistic stock which formerly occupied a more extended area than any other in North America. Their territory reached from the east shore of Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and front Churchill River to Pamlico Sound. The east parts of this territory were separated by an area occupied by Iroquoian tribes.Read more about the Algonquian Indian History. Archives, Libraries, and Societies Archives Massachusetts State Archives Microfilm Card Index (hosted at Massachusetts State Archives Microfilm Card Index) Algonquian Indian Biography Gertrude “Anahareo” Bernard (hosted at Past Forward) Wanchese, Algonquian Indian (hosted … Read more

Machapunga Tribe

Machapunga Indians (‘bad dust’; from matchi ‘bad’, pungo ‘dust’ (Heckewelder), or perhaps ‘much dust,’ from massa ‘great’, in allusion to the sandy soil of the district). An Algonquian tribe formerly living in Hyde county, north east North Carolina. In 1701 they numbered only about 30 warriors, or perhaps 100 souls, and lived in a single village called Mattamuskeet. They took part in the Tuscarora War of 1711-12 and at its conclusion the remnant, together with the Coree, were settled on a tract on Mattamuskeet lake, where the two tribes occupied one village.

Algonquian Indians

Algonquian Family (adapted from the name of the Algonkin tribe). A linguistic stock which formerly occupied a more extended area than any other in North America. Their territory reached from the east shore of Newfoundland to the Rocky Mountains and front Churchill River to Pamlico sound. The east parts of this territory were separated by an area occupied by Iroquoian tribes. On the east Algonquian tribes skirted the Atlantic coast from Newfoundland to Neuse River; on the south they touched on the territories of the eastern Siouan, southern Iroquoian, and the Muskhogean families; on the west they bordered on the … Read more

Coree Tribe

Coree Indians. A tribe, possibly Algonquian, formerly occupying the peninsulas of Neuse river, in Carteret and Craven counties, North Carolina. They had been greatly reduced in a war with another tribe before 1696, and were described by Archdale as having been a bloody and barbarous people. Lawson refers to them as Coranine Indians, but in another place calls them Connamox, and gives them two villages in 1701–Coranine and Raruta–with about 125 souls. They engaged in the Tuscarora war of 1711, and in 1715 the remnants of the Coree and Machapunga were assigned a tract on Mattamuskeet Lake, Hyde County, North … Read more

Powhatan Indians

Powhatan Indians – Said by Gerard to signify “falls in a current of water,” and applied originally to one tribe but extended by the English to its chief Wahunsonacock, and through him to the body of tribes which came under his sway. Also called: Sachdagugh-roonaw, Iroquois name. Powhatan Connections. The Powhatan belonged to the Algonquian linguistic stock, their nearest relatives probably being the Algonquian tribes of Carolina and the Conoy. Powhatan Location. In the tidewater section of Virginia from Potomac River to the divide between James River and Albemarle Sound, and the territory of the present eastern shore of Virginia. … Read more