Unquachog

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Residential area of ​​the Unquachog and neighboring tribes around 1600

The Unquachog or Unkechaug ('People from beyond the hill'), sometimes also Poosepatuck (also Patchoag , Patchogue - 'where the waters meet') are one of 14 Algonquin- speaking Indian tribes on Long Island in the US state of New York and lived at the beginning 17th century in the central area of ​​the island on the south coast.

Name and area of ​​residence

The Unquachog are one of the most mistaken Algonquin groups in southern New England . They are recognized by the state of New York as the Unkechaug Nation , while their 52- acre reservation in the northeastern part of the city of Mastic in Suffolk County is named Poosepatuck Indian Reservation after its synonym .

Poosepatuck was a place name that first appeared in a document as Pospatou . This document refers to Indians living in the same area and describes them as indigenous people of Unquachock, etc. Variants of this name are Vnchechange, Unchachage, Unckachohok, Unquachak, Unkechage and Unquachog. The US Department of Commerce uses the spelling Poospatuck.

The residential area of ​​the Unquachog was on the south coast of Long Islands and extended from Patchogue Bay in the west to Shinnecock Bay in the east and approximately to the middle of Long Islands in the north.

The Unquachog Village Poosepatuck on the Forge River is the last remnant of what was once 175 acres that Colonel William Smith the Unquachog chartered on July 2, 1700. The treaty divided the land in such a way that the Unquachog settlements were surrounded by plots of land by white colonists, deliberately preventing the Unquachog from unifying. Another split caused the arrival of the Presbyterian missionaries among the Unquachog in 1741.

Social and cultural relationships

Later President Thomas Jefferson showed an ethnological interest in the unquachog when he visited Poosepatuck in 1791 to collect and translate unquachog words. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Unquachog lived in one of the numerous autonomous villages, linked to one another in a kind of confederation that was spread over the whole of Long Island and southern New England. These cultural, linguistic and social relationships still connect the Unquachog with the Montaukett , Shinnecock and Matinecock today . Even with the more distant tribes on the mainland, she had similar relationships, such as the Mohegan , Pequot , Narraganset and Wampanoag . However, this did not prevent these more powerful tribes from demanding tribute payments from the Long Island tribes. This tribute was generally paid in wampum , which was temporarily declared the official currency in eastern North America. Whole boatloads of wampum cords regularly came north across Long Island Sound, because Long Island was where the best wampum was made.

history

From 1718 to 1935 the proximity of William Floyd's 4,400 acre plantation was a serious barrier to the independence of the Unquachog. The isolation of the peninsula and the lack of other jobs meant that the Unquachog had to work for either the Floyds or other white settlers. Before 1799, some unquachog even worked as slaves for the rich landowners, after which they were given employment contracts as free workers.

Between 1830 and 1945 some non-Indian officials insinuated that marriages to Africans and Europeans marked the end of the unquachog culture. As a result, there was a risk that the outward appearance of many members of the tribe prevented state recognition. The Unquachog were actually excluded from voting under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. Nevertheless, the Unquachog consistently retained their Indian identity and old religious and cultural customs were rediscovered. In a 1936 court ruling, the status of the Poosepatuck Reservation was confirmed as a viable New York State Indian reservation.

Todays situation

The rituals and ceremonies of the unquachog can be observed at the annual June meeting and the autumn maize festival. The June meeting is also called the Festival of the Moon Flowers or the Festival of the Strawberry Moon and takes place on the second weekend in June on the Poosepatuck reservation. Here you can see Christian and Indian rites, plus there is traditional food, the ingredients of which are produced in the reservation. Flowers in the sacred colors of the unquachog, that is purple, white, red, green and black, are shown. The fall corn festival includes pow wow dances, naming ceremonies, and tribal officials' appointments.

There are currently five core families with around 250 people living in the Poosepatuck reservation. The tribe is administered by a chief, several administrators, and a tribal council headed by a nominal chief. He also leads the meetings of the tribal council and the ceremonies.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 15. Northeast - Chapter: Indians of Southern New England and Long Island, Early Period, p. 175. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1978, ISBN 0-16-004575-4 .
  2. ↑ a b Poosepatuck (Unkechaug Nation)

See also

literature

Web links