Eastern Woodlands tribes
Encyclopedia
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...
to the eastern Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
, and from the Great Lakes region
Great Lakes region (North America)
The Great Lakes region of North America, occasionally known as the Third Coast or the Fresh Coast , includes the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin as well as the Canadian province of Ontario...
to the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
, which is now the eastern United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The Plains Indians
Plains Indians
The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
culture area is to the west; the Subarctic
Subarctic
The Subarctic is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic and covering much of Alaska, Canada, the north of Scandinavia, Siberia, and northern Mongolia...
area to the north.
List of Northeastern Woodland peoples
- Abenaki (TarrantineTarrantineThe Tarrantines were a tribe of Native Americans inhabiting northern New England, particularly coastal Maine. The name Tarrantine is the word the Massachusett tribe used to refer to the Abenaki people....
), Maine, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Quebec, and Vermont- Eastern Abenaki, Quebec, Maine, and New Hampshire
- Kennebec (Caniba)
- Western AbenakiWestern AbenakiThe Abenaki are a tribe of Native American and First Nations people, one of the Algonquian-speaking peoples of northeastern North America. The Abenaki live in the New England region of the United States and Quebec and the Maritimes of Canada, a region called Wabanaki in the Eastern Algonquian...
: Quebec, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont
- Eastern Abenaki, Quebec, Maine, and New Hampshire
- AnishinaabeAnishinaabeAnishinaabe or Anishinabe—or more properly Anishinaabeg or Anishinabek, which is the plural form of the word—is the autonym often used by the Odawa, Ojibwe, and Algonquin peoples. They all speak closely related Anishinaabemowin/Anishinaabe languages, of the Algonquian language family.The meaning...
(Anishinape, Anicinape, Neshnabé, Nishnaabe) (see also Subarctic, PlainsPlains IndiansThe Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their colorful equestrian culture and resistance to White domination have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere.Plains...
)- Algonquin, Quebec, Ontario
- NipissingNipissing First NationThe Nipissing First Nation consists of first nation people of Ojibwa and Algonquin descent who have lived in the area of Lake Nipissing in the Canadian province of Ontario for about 9,400 years. Though in history known by many names, they are generally considered part of the Anishinaabe peoples,...
, Ontario - OjibwaOjibwaThe Ojibwe or Chippewa are among the largest groups of Native Americans–First Nations north of Mexico. They are divided between Canada and the United States. In Canada, they are the third-largest population among First Nations, surpassed only by Cree and Inuit...
(Chippewa, Ojibwe), Ontario, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin- MississaugasMississaugasThe Mississaugas are a subtribe of the Anishinaabe-speaking First Nations people located in southern Ontario, Canada. They are closely related to the Ojibwa...
, Ontario - SaulteauxSaulteauxThe Saulteaux are a First Nation in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia, Canada.-Ethnic classification:The Saulteaux are a branch of the Ojibwe nations. They are sometimes also called Anihšināpē . Saulteaux is a French term meaning "people of the rapids," referring to...
(Nakawē), Ontario
- Mississaugas
- Odawa peopleOdawa peopleThe Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...
(Ottawa), Ontario, Michigan, later Oklahoma - PotawatomiPotawatomiThe Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied...
, Michigan, Ontario, Indiana, Wisconsin, later Oklahoma
- Assateague, Maryland
- Attawandaron (Neutral), Ontario
- BeothukBeothukThe Beothuk were one of the aboriginal peoples in Canada. They lived on the island of Newfoundland at the time of European contact in the 15th and 16th centuries...
, formerly Newfoundland - Choptank people, Maryland
- Conoy, Virginia
- Erie, Pennsylvania, New York
- Etchemin, Maine
- MeskwakiMeskwakiThe Meskwaki are a Native American people often known to outsiders as the Fox tribe. They have often been closely linked to the Sauk people. In their own language, the Meskwaki call themselves Meshkwahkihaki, which means "the Red-Earths." Historically their homelands were in the Great Lakes region...
(Fox), Michigan, later Iowa, Oklahoma - Ho-ChunkHo-ChunkThe Ho-Chunk, also known as Winnebago, are a tribe of Native Americans, native to what is now Wisconsin and Illinois. There are two federally recognized Ho-Chunk tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska....
(Winnebago), Wisconsin near Green Bay, Illinois, later Iowa and Nebraska - HonniasontHonniasontThe Honniasont were a little-known indigenous people of North America originally from eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia. They appear to have inhabited the upper Ohio River valley, above Louisville, Kentucky .-Language:Honniasont may have been considered an Iroquoian language...
, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia - Hopewell tradition, formerly Ohio and Black RiverBlack River (Ohio)The Black River is a tributary of Lake Erie, about 12 mi long, in northern Ohio in the United States. Via Lake Erie, the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, it is part of the watershed of the St. Lawrence River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean...
region, 200 BCE—500 CE - Illinois Confederacy (IlliniwekIlliniwekThe Illinois Confederation, sometimes referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were a group of twelve to thirteen Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley of North America...
), Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri- Cahokia, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, later Oklahoma
- KaskaskiaKaskaskiaThe Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...
, formerly Wisconsin - MiamiMiami tribeThe Miami are a Native American nation originally found in what is now Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States...
, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan, later Oklahoma
- MitchigameaMitchigameaMitchigamea or Michigamea or Mitchigamie were a tribe in the Illinois Confederation. Not much is known about them and their origin is uncertain. Originally they were said to be from the Lake Michigan, perhaps the Chicago area...
, formerly Illinois- MoingonaMoingonaThe historic Miami-Illinois people who are today referred to as the Moingona or Moingwena were close allies of or perhaps part of the Peoria. They were assimilated by that tribe and lost their separate identity about 1700...
, formerly Illinois - Peoria, Illinois, later Oklahoma
- Tamaroa, formerly Illinois
- WeaWeaThe Wea were a Miami-Illinois-speaking tribe originally located in western Indiana, closely related to the Miami. The name Wea is used today as the a shortened version of their many recorded names...
, formerly Indiana
- Moingona
- Iroquois Confederacy (Haudenosaunee), Ontario, Quebec, and New York
- Cayuga, New York, later Oklahoma
- Mohawk New York and Kahnawake, Quebec
- Oneida, New York
- Onondaga, New York
- SenecaSeneca nationThe Seneca are a group of indigenous people native to North America. They were the nation located farthest to the west within the Six Nations or Iroquois League in New York before the American Revolution. While exact population figures are unknown, approximately 15,000 to 25,000 Seneca live in...
, New York, later Oklahoma- MingoMingoThe Mingo are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans made up of peoples who migrated west to the Ohio Country in the mid-eighteenth century. Anglo-Americans called these migrants mingos, a corruption of mingwe, an Eastern Algonquian name for Iroquoian-language groups in general. Mingos have also...
, Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia
- Mingo
- Tuscarora, formerly North Carolina
- Kickapoo, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, later Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Mexico
- LaurentianSt. Lawrence IroquoiansThe St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a prehistoric First Nations/Native American indigenous people who lived from the 14th century until about 1580 CE along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and New York State, United States. They spoke Laurentian...
(St. Lawrence IroquoiansSt. Lawrence IroquoiansThe St. Lawrence Iroquoians were a prehistoric First Nations/Native American indigenous people who lived from the 14th century until about 1580 CE along the shores of the St. Lawrence River in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada, and New York State, United States. They spoke Laurentian...
, formerly New York, Ontario, and Quebec, 14th c.—1580 CE - Lenni-LenapeLenapeThe Lenape are an Algonquian group of Native Americans of the Northeastern Woodlands. They are also called Delaware Indians. As a result of the American Revolutionary War and later Indian removals from the eastern United States, today the main groups live in Canada, where they are enrolled in the...
Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey, now Ontario and Oklahoma- Munsee linguistic group, (person from Minisink); originally resided in the greater Manhattan area, and drainage of Lower Hudson R. valley and upper Delaware R.
- EsopusEsopus tribeThe Esopus tribe was a tribe of Lenape Native Americans who were native to Upstate New York.The tribe fought a series of conflicts against settlers from the New Netherland Colony from September 1659 to September 1663, known as the Esopus Wars...
, formerly New York, later Ontario and Wisconsin- Waoranecks
- Warranawankongs
- Minisink above the Delaware Water Gap
- Ramapough Mountain IndiansRamapough Mountain IndiansThe Ramapough Mountain Indians, also known as Ramapo Mountain Indians or the Ramapough Lenape Nation, are a group of approximately 5,000 people living around the Ramapo Mountains of northern New Jersey and southern New York. Their tribal office is located on Stag Hill Road on Houvenkopf Mountain in...
, New Jersey
- Esopus
- Unami linguistic group
- Acquackanonk, Passaic River in northern New Jersey
- Hackensack, New Jersey
- Navasink, to the east along the north shore of New Jersey
- Raritan, New Jersey, New York
- Rumachenanck (Haverstraw), New Jersey, New York
- Tappan, New Jersey, New York
- UnalachtigoUnalachtigo LenapeThe Unalachtigo , were a division of the Lenape Native Americans.Once believed to comprise the southernmost of the three main divisions of the Lenape, they were said to have occupied the west bank of the Delaware River in the state of Delaware, and also the east bank of the river in New Jersey...
, Delaware, New Jersey - Wiechquaeskecks, Connecticut
- Munsee linguistic group, (person from Minisink); originally resided in the greater Manhattan area, and drainage of Lower Hudson R. valley and upper Delaware R.
- MascoutenMascoutenThe Mascouten were a tribe of Algonquian-speaking native Americans who are believed to have dwelt on both sides of the Mississippi River adjacent to the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border....
, formerly Michigan - MassachusettMassachusettThe Massachusett are a tribe of Native Americans who lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in particular present-day Greater Boston; they spoke the Massachusett language...
, Massachusetts- PonkapoagPonkapoagPonkapoag is the name of a Native American "praying town" settled in the western Blue Hills area of eastern Massachusetts during the colonization of the Atlantic seaboard of the United States by settlers from Britain in the 17th century...
, Massachusetts
- Ponkapoag
- MenomineeMenomineeSome placenames use other spellings, see also Menomonee and Menomonie.The Menominee are a nation of Native Americans living in Wisconsin. The Menominee, along with the Ho-Chunk, are the only tribes that are indigenous to what is now Wisconsin...
, Wisconsin - Mahican ConfederacyMahicanThe Mahican are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley . After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin...
, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont- Housatonic, Massachusetts, New York
- MahicanMahicanThe Mahican are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley . After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin...
, Massachusetts, New York, and Vermont - WappaniWappaniThe Wappinger were a confederacy of Native Americans whose territory in the 17th century spread along the eastern bank of the Hudson River. Primarily based in what is now Dutchess County, New York, their territory bordered Manhattan Island to the south, the Mahican territory bounded by the...
(WappingerWappingerThe Wappinger were an American tribe native to eastern New York. The term "Wappinger" may also refer to:* Wappinger, New York, the Town of Wappinger named for the tribe...
), New York- Wappinger proper, New York
- Hammonasset, Connecticut
- Kitchawank (Kichtawanks, Kichtawank), northern Westchester County, New York
- MattabessetMattabessetMattabesset or Mattabeseck refers to the Native American group which had its principal settlement at the Mattabeseck River of what is today Connecticut, United States. It is presumed that the portage offered the Mattabeseck additional opportunities for trade...
, New Haven County, Connecticut - Massaco, Farmington River, Connecticut
- Menunkatuck, coastal Connecticut
- Nochpeem, Dutchess County, New York
- Paugusset, along Housatonic River, in the bank of Connecticut
- Podunk, eastern Hartford County, Connecticut
- Poquonock, Hartford County, Connecticut
- QuinnipiacQuinnipiacThis article is about the Native American nation. For the university, see Quinnipiac University.The Quinnipiac — rarely spelled Quinnipiack — is the English name for the Eansketambawg a Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the Wampanoki This article is about the Native...
(Eansketambawg), Connecticut, New Jersey, New York - Rechgawawanc (Recgawawanc)
- Sicaog, Hartford County, Connecticut
- Sintsink, Westchester County, New York
- SiwanoySiwanoyThe Native American Siwanoy or Sinanoy were a band of Algonquian-speaking people, the Wappinger, in what is now the New York City area. By the mid-17th century, when their territory became hotly contested between Dutch and English colonial interests, the Siwanoy were settled along the East River...
, Connecticut, New York - Tankiteke, Connecticut, New York
- TunxisTunxisThe Tunxis were a Native American tribe historically linked to the Wappinger that lived by a sizeable bend on the Farmington River near where Farmington and Southington in Hartford County, Connecticut exist today. The name Tunxis comes from the Wuttunkshau-sepus word meaning "the point where the...
, Hartford County, Connecticut - Wecquaesgeek, Westchester County, New York
- Wyachtonok, Connecticut, New York
- MassachusettMassachusettThe Massachusett are a tribe of Native Americans who lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in particular present-day Greater Boston; they spoke the Massachusett language...
, Massachusetts - Mi'kmaq (Micmac), New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, and Maine
- MoheganMoheganThe Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
, Connecticut - MontaukettMontaukettThe Montaukett is an Algonquian-speaking Native American group native to the eastern end of Long Island, New York and one of the thirteen historical indigenous centers...
(Montauk), New York - Nanticoke, Delaware and Maryland
- Accohannock
- Narragansett, Rhode Island
- Niantic, coastal Connecticut
- Nipmuc (NipmuckNipmuckThe Nipmuc are a group of Algonquian Indians native to Worcester County, Massachusetts, some parts of Northeastern CT, and NW RI, and the Northwestern and Western parts of Middlesex County, Massachusetts.-Name:...
), Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island - Occaneechee, Virginia
- Passamaquoddy, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Quebec, and Maine
- PatuxentPatuxent peopleThe Patuxent were one of the Native American tribes living along the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. They spoke an Algonquian language and were loosely dominated by the Piscattaway.They were among the first people taught by Andrew White....
, Maryland - Penobscot, Maine
- PequotPequotPequot people are a tribe of Native Americans who, in the 17th century, inhabited much of what is now Connecticut. They were of the Algonquian language family. The Pequot War and Mystic massacre reduced the Pequot's sociopolitical influence in southern New England...
, Connecticut - PetunPetunThe Petún , or Tionontati in their language, were an Iroquoian-speaking First Nations people closely related to the Wendat Confederacy. Their homeland was located along the southwest edge of Georgian Bay, in the area immediately to the west of the Huron territory in Southern Ontario of...
(Tionontate), Ontario - Piscataway, Maryland
- Pocumtuc, western Massachusetts
- Poospatuck, New York
- QuinnipiacQuinnipiacThis article is about the Native American nation. For the university, see Quinnipiac University.The Quinnipiac — rarely spelled Quinnipiack — is the English name for the Eansketambawg a Native American nation of the Algonquian family who inhabited the Wampanoki This article is about the Native...
, Connecticut, eastern New York, northern New Jersey- Hammonasset
- Mattabesec
- Mattatuck
- Menunkatuck
- Meriden
- Mioonkhtuck
- Naugatuck, New York
- Nehantic
- Paugusset, New York
- PodunkPodunk (people)The Podunks were an indigenous people living in some of the southern parts of what came to be known as New England. The Europeans referred to these people as the Podunk, but they did not have a name for themselves, or a written language, and they spoke an Algonquian dialect...
, New York - PotatuckPotatuckThe Potatuck were a Native American tribe that existed during and prior to colonial times in western Connecticut, USA. They were a sub-group of the Paugussett Nation and lived in what is present day Newtown, Woodbury and Southbury...
, New York - TotoketTotoketThe Totoket were a Native American people who spoke one of the Algonquian languages. The tribe lived in the area of South Central Connecticut, in the area between the towns of Branford and North Branford....
- TunxisTunxisThe Tunxis were a Native American tribe historically linked to the Wappinger that lived by a sizeable bend on the Farmington River near where Farmington and Southington in Hartford County, Connecticut exist today. The name Tunxis comes from the Wuttunkshau-sepus word meaning "the point where the...
, New York - Wangunk, New York
- Wepawaug, New York
- Sauk, Michigan, later Iowa, Oklahoma
- Schaghticoke, western Connecticut
- ShawneeShawneeThe Shawnee, Shaawanwaki, Shaawanooki and Shaawanowi lenaweeki, are an Algonquian-speaking people native to North America. Historically they inhabited the areas of Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Western Maryland, Kentucky, Indiana, and Pennsylvania...
, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, later Oklahoma - ShinnecockShinnecock Indian NationThe Shinnecock Indian Nation is a federally recognized tribe, headquartered in Suffolk County, New York, on the south shore of Long Island. Shinnecock are an Algonquian people from Long Island...
, Long Island, New York - SusquehannockSusquehannockThe Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
, Maryland and Pennsylvania - Tauxenent (Doeg), Virginia
- Unquachog, Long Island, New York
- Wampanoag, Massachusetts
- NausetNausetThe Nauset tribe, sometimes referred to as the Cape Cod Indians lived in what is present-day Cape Cod, Massachusetts, living east of Bass River and lands occupied by their closely related neighbours, the Wampanoag...
, Massachusetts - Patuxet, Massachusetts
- PokanoketPokanoketThe Pokanoket tribe is the headship tribe of the many tribes that make up the Wampanoag Nation, which was at times referred to as the Pokanoket Nation or the Pokanoket Confederacy or known as the Pokanoket Country...
, Massachusetts, Rhode Island
- Nauset
- Wawenoc, Maine
- Wenro, New York
- WenrohrononWenrohrononThe Wenrohronon or Wenro were a little-known indigenous people of North America originally from western New York and northwestern Pennsylvania. They appear to have inhabited the upper Allegheny River valley, between the territories of the Seneca and the Neutrals...
, Pennsylvania, New York - WicocomicoWicocomicoThe Wicocomico, Wiccocomoco, Wighcocomoco, or Wicomico are an Algonquian-speaking tribe who lived in Northumberland County, Virginia, at the end and just slightly north of the Little Wicomico River. They were a fringe group in Powhatan’s Confederacy.-History:The Wicocomico people were encountered...
, Maryland, Virginia - Wolastoqiyik, Maliseet, Maine, New Brunswick, Novia Scotia, and Quebec
- Wyandot (Huron), Ontario south of Georgian BayGeorgian BayGeorgian Bay is a large bay of Lake Huron, located entirely within Ontario, Canada...
, now Oklahoma, Kansas, Michigan, and WendakeWendake, QuebecWendake is the current name for the Huron-Wendat reserve, an enclave within Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. One of the Seven Nations of Canada, this was formerly known as Village-des-Hurons , and also as -Lorette....
, Quebec
See also
- Classification of indigenous peoples of the AmericasClassification of indigenous peoples of the AmericasClassification of indigenous peoples of the Americas is based upon cultural regions, geography, and linguistics. Anthropologists have named various cultural regions, with fluid boundaries, that are generally agreed upon with some variation...
- Hopewell tradition
- War of 1812War of 1812The War of 1812 was a military conflict fought between the forces of the United States of America and those of the British Empire. The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including trade restrictions because of Britain's ongoing war with France, impressment of American merchant...