Wawyachtonoc were an Algonquian-speaking Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands who lived in east-central New York and northwest Connecticut.
 A map of the traditional territory of Mahican-affiliated tribes. The Wawyachtonoc are shown in dark green in the bottom right. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| extinct as a tribe merged into Stockbridge–Munsee Community, Brothertown Indians, and Schaghticoke Tribal Nation | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Northeastern Connecticut, later New York | |
| Languages | |
| An Eastern Algonquian language | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous religion, Moravian Church | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Paugussett, Mohican Confederacy |
Name
editThe autonymous ethnonym—or endonym—Wawyachtonoc is often translated into English as "eddy people" or "people of the curved channel".[1][2]
The name Wawyachtonoc is also transcribed and rendered, in Latin script, as Wyachtonok, Wawayachtonoc, and Wyaghtonok. From this term derives the demonym Weantinock—the name given by the Wawyachtonoc, and toponym used by them in reference to, their primary community and chief settlement, historically located along the confluence of the Housatonic River and its tributary Still River in the vicinity of what is today downtown New Milford, Connecticut.
Territory
editThe traditional territory of the Wawyachtonoc covered much of today's Litchfield County, Connecticut, and extended very slightly into what is now easternmost Columbia and Dutchess counties in New York.[1]
Villages
edit- Weantinock, the tribe's primary village, situated along the Housatonic River near present New Milford[3]
- Bantam[1]
- Pachgatgoch (present day Schaghticoke Indian Reservation - Kent, Connecticut) "Where the river forks" at the mouth of the Housatonic River and Ten Mile River.
- Pomperaug[1]
- Scaticook[1]
- Shekomeko (Shecomeco),[1] meaning "great village," 2 miles south of present Pine Plains, New York[4]
- Weataug,[1] meaning "wigwam place," likely on the Housatonic River between Washining Lake and Canaan, Connecticut, near present Salisbury[5][6]
- Wechquadnach,[1] meaning "wrapped around by the mountain," on the Eastern side of Indian Lake, Litchfield County[6][7]
History
editIn 1687, the Wyachtonok, originally subgroup of Paugussett, joined the Mohican Confederacy.
The majority of the Wawyachtonoc were converted to Christianity, beginning in 1740, by Moravian missionaries.[8] During this period Wawyachtonoc populations became concentrated at the Moravian missions at Shekomeko and Scaticook.[9] Some of them moved to Moravian Indian communities in Pennsylvania.[1]
In the 1830s, some Wawyachtonoc were displaced to Wisconsin. These Wawyachtonoc descendants are now part of the Stockbridge–Munsee Community and Brothertown Indians of Wisconsin, while those that remained in Connecticut are part of the Schaghticoke Tribal Nation, a state-recognized tribe.
References
edit- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hodge, Frederick Webb (1910). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: N-Z. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 924.
- ↑ Ricky, Donald (1999-01-01). Indians of Maryland. Somerset Publishers, Inc. ISBN 978-0-403-09877-4.
- ↑ Hodge, Frederick Webb (1912). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ↑ Hodge, Frederick Webb (1912). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: N-Z. U.S. Government Printing Office.
- ↑ Douglas-Lithgow, R. A. (2001). Native American Place Names of Connecticut. Applewood Books. ISBN 978-1-55709-540-4.
- 1 2 Starna, William A. (2020-03-09). From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians, 1600-1830. University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-1-4962-1058-6.
- ↑ Lavin, Lucianne. "Archaeology and Ethnohistory in Connecticut's Northwest Corner: The Mohican Connection" (PDF). The Institute for American Indian Studies.
- ↑ Handbook of North American Indians: Northeast. Smithsonian Institution. 1978.
- ↑ Ricky, Donald (1998). Encyclopedia of New Jersey Indians: Encyclopedia of Native Peoples. Somerset Publishers. ISBN 978-0-403-09331-1.