Setauket (people)
The Setauket were one of 14 Algonquin- speaking Indian tribes on Long Island in the US state of New York and lived at the beginning of the 17th century on the north coast of the island, about where the city of Brookhaven in Suffolk County is today . They believed to speak Quiripi-Unquachog, an Algonquian dialect spoken by the tribes of central Long Island and western Connecticut. The identity of the Setauket is now considered extinct, as the last survivors went to neighboring tribes in the 18th century and mingled with them.
The north coast of Long Islands was the location for the best wampum in the entire American Northeast. Every summer the Setauket collected innumerable mussel shells on the shores of Long Island Sound , which were carefully worked into small pearls in winter. These were strung into long chains and called wampompeag , a term that the English later shortened to the well-known word wampum . The strands of shell pearls eventually became a means of payment in trade between Indians and Europeans, but they were also valued by the natives as personal jewelry. With patterns from the different colored pearls information could be represented, so that Wampum reminded of important events and sealed agreements or contracts so to speak.
There were two types of wampum beads, namely white and dark, which could vary from dark red to black, with the value of the dark wampum generally being about twice the value of the light. The clams used to make wampum were found on both sides of Long Island Sound, so the Long Island Indians never had the monopoly on wampum production. Other tribes, such as the Delaware , Mattabesic , Niantic , Pequot and Narraganset , were also involved in the production, but the one made on the north coast of the Long Islands was considered to be the best and most valuable wampum. Tied together and measured in thread , wampum was temporarily recognized as an official means of payment in trade between Indians and whites and thus had a considerable increase in value.
It was common among the tribes in southern New England and Long Islands for the weaker groups to pay tribute to the stronger groups in the form of wampum. In general, the mainland tribes were more powerful and the Setauket tried often, but always unsuccessfully, to refuse to pay tribute. Every year, entire canoe loads crossed the Long Island Sound to the north at Wampum. When the Dutch and English settlers bought the Indian land after their arrival, the Indians often thought that this was another form of tribute payment and could not believe that they had actually lost all rights to their land.
Individual evidence
- ^ Metoac History
- ↑ The Early Settlement of Oyster Bay ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
