Montau chain
The Montaukett or Montauk were part of the Metoac tribe of one of the 14 Algonquin- speaking Indian tribes on Long Island in the US state of New York and lived on the eastern end of the island at the beginning of the 17th century. Today there are only a few mixed-blood descendants left on Long Island who are officially considered to be members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation. The name Montaukett means "hilly land" in the Algonquian language.
Culture and way of life
The Montaukett spent the winter under the protection of the oak forests in the interior of the island, and in the warmer months they moved to the coast. The proximity of the Gulf Stream ensures a mild climate on the eastern tip of Long Islands. Throughout the year the main focus was on the procurement of food, clothing and the production of wampum . They were excellent farmers and grew corn, beans and squash , with the women tilling the fields and taking care of the harvest. The supplies for the winter were kept in deep pits covered with mats. The vegetarian diet was supplemented by fish, mussels and game, with hunting and fishing being part of the men's duties.
The wampum played an important role in the life of the Montaukett. On the coasts of Long Island, excellent raw wampum was found, which was carefully processed into small pearls and strung into chains by the Montaukett. The strands of shell pearls eventually developed into an important means of payment in the trade of the natives of North America, but were also valued as personal jewelry. With patterns from the different colored pearls information was represented, so that Wampum reminded of important events in diplomacy and sealed agreements or treaties so to speak.
history
From archaeological finds it is known that Long Island was inhabited by Paleo-Indians 10,000 years ago . The Montaukett initially lived relatively isolated on the eastern end of the island until they developed into one of the most influential tribes in southern New England due to the quality of their wampum in intertribal barter .
The Long Island tribes cultivated peaceful relations with one another, while relations with the powerful tribes on the nearby mainland, the Pequot , Mahican , Narraganset and Wampanoag , were far from amicable. They came in canoes across the Long Island Sound , subjugated the islanders and obliged them to pay tribute in the form of wampum. Every year, entire boatloads with this valuable cargo crossed the sound northwards. Wampum was for a time the official currency in the colonies and especially the wampum produced on the island enjoyed high esteem among the mainland residents, but also aroused their desire.
Wyandanch and Gardiner
The most famous sachem of the Montaukett was Wyandanch , who lived around 1620 at the time of the Mayflower arrival . At the beginning of the 17th century, the Montaukett lived in constant fear of invasions by hostile tribes from the mainland. Although they were the most populous of all 14 Long Island tribes of the Metoac , they had no chance against the much more powerful tribes from the north. Especially the Pequot from what is now Rhode Island , who crossed the Sound in their canoes, were involved in the raids. The geographic isolation of the Montauk had previously prevented a protective alliance with their neighbors. When the demands of the Pequot became more and more immoderate, Sachem Wyandanch formed an alliance with the white settlers of the Connecticut colony, which was agreed in Fort Saybrook at the mouth of the Connecticut River . The colony's forces were under the command of Lieutenant Lion Gardiner , a 38-year-old officer, engineer, and adventurer who had been transferred to Fort Saybrook by the British Crown.
In the summer of 1637 the Pequot War broke out and in the Battle of the Great Swamp the Montaukett were involved in the crushing defeat of the Pequot. This ended the tribute payments to the Pequot and, out of gratitude, Wyandanch delivered part of the wampum to Captain Gardiner, who was on friendly terms with the Montaukett Sachem and learned their language.
In 1642, the Narraganset, led by Sachem Miontonimo, organized a revolt against the white settlers in southern New England, but Wyandanch declined to participate and warned his friend Gardiner, who alerted Connecticut magistrate. The uprising was suppressed in the bud by the white colonists before it began. News of the Montaukett betrayal spread at lightning speed and resulted in complete isolation of the tribe among the Indian population.
Loss of tribal land
Wyandanch and Gardiner agreed to sell around 125 km² of tribal land to the white colonists on which the city of East Hampton was founded. As a purchase price, the Montaukett received 20 coats, 24 axes, hoes, knives, mirrors and 100 drills to pierce Wampumperlen. The relationship between white settlers and Montaukett was never as good as Gardiner and Wyandanch hoped. In 1649 an Indian warrior was suspected of murdering a settler. Although it turned out to be a Pequot's act, things did not improve. Around the middle of the 17th century there were rumors that the Dutch were secretly supplying the Long Islands Indians with weapons to prepare for an uprising against the English. In reality, the Montaukett were never a threat to the early settlers, because their number of warriors had dwindled in the constant fighting with the Narraganset and especially because of the diseases brought in by Europeans. In 1653 there was another attack by the Narraganset, in which Wyandanch's daughter was robbed and could be freed again with the help of Gardiner. In gratitude, the Sachem gave Gardiner a large piece of land on which the town of Smithtown now stands. A series of smallpox epidemics in the late 1650s struck the Montaukett in such a way that ultimately only a third of the tribe survived.
After Wyandanch's death in 1659, the few Montaukett moved to the vicinity of East Hampton and were there under the protection of Lieutenant Gardiner and Reverend Thomas James, who not only mastered their language but also kept written records of it. The next year, the Montaukett sold the rest of their land of around 36.5 km² to a group of settlers for 100 pounds. Thus the Montaukett had ceded their entire traditional tribal land of around 240 km² to the English settlers. Unlike the Shinnecock, who kept about 300 acres (1.2 km² ) on a reservation , the Montaukett did not have an acre of their tribal land left. In the future, they were viewed as guests on their own land.
Todays situation
Some surviving Montaukett settled in an area called Indian Fields until 1879 . Arthur W. Benson managed by a trick to have the Montaukett expelled and to move to Freetown at the north end of East Hampton Village. When Judge Abel Blackmar of New York State was asked by the descendants of the Montaukett to reassert their rights to their own land in 1909, he declared that the Montaukett no longer existed as a tribe. With this decision, the Montaukett lost their tribal status and all rights to their traditional tribal land.
Montaukett artifacts and sweat lodges can be viewed at Theodor Roosevelt County Park in Montauk . In 2004 the last 500 or so members of the tribe gathered to petition the US government to recognize the Montaukett as a tribe again. The decision is currently pending.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b History of Metoac
- ↑ a b c Montauks Indian heritage ( Memento of the original from November 15, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
See also
literature
- Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 15. Northeast . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1978, ISBN 0-16004-575-4 .
- John A. Strong: The Montaukett Indians of Eastern Long Island . ISBN 0-8156-2883-8 .