FDI - Massachuset

The Massachuset were a sedentary hunter/farmer tribe. They were located in the region of Massachusetts Bay from Salem south to Brockton. They were destroyed by a combination of smallpox and then war with other tribes because they had allied themselves with the Whites.

Aboriginal Locations: Subdivisions (Villages)

MA Cato, Chickataubut, Cutshamakin, Manatahqua, Nahaton, Nanepashemet (23)

Year	*History*
1497	Probably visited by John Cabot
1614	First mentioned specifically by Captain John Smith when he explored the coast of New England
1616	Population reduced by smallpox and war with northeastern neighbors
1620	Pilgrims found most of the Massachuset villages in the region were empty and recently abandoned
1629	Puritans said only 500 Massachuset in region
1631	Puritans settled and mission work began by John Eliot, stripped Indians of tribal identity
1633	Second smallpox epidemic
1675	King Philip's War, attacked by other tribes because of close ties with as well as many killed by colonial soldiers they were trying to serve

Year	Total MA Population	Source
1680	3,000	Mooney estimate
1631	500	Swanton
1700	0	NAHDB calculation
1800	0	NAHDB calculation
1900	0	NAHDB calculation
2000	0	NAHDB calculation

*Ethnie:*	MASSACHUSET
*Language:*	Wampanoag
*Family:*	Eastern Algonquian
*Stock:*	Algonquian
*Phylum:*	Algic
*Macro-Culture:*	Eastern Woodlands
Speakers	None