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This article covers the Pequot as an tribe, or nation.
| Total population |
1620: 6,000. (est.) | |
| Significant populations: | Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, Lantern Hill, North Stonington Connecticut: 1130. Mashantuckett or western Pequots, Ledyard, Connecticut: 350. | |
| Language | Historically an Algonquian language, now English | |
| Religion | ||
| Related ethnic groups |
Native American North American natives "Sibling" groups: | |
The Pequot and the Mohegan were one tribe that migrated toward central and eastern Connecticut sometime around 1500, probably from the upper Hudson River Valley. Sometime after that and before contact with Europeans, they had split into the two warring groups. The Pequot became the dominant tribe in central and eastern Connecticut, collecting tribute from other tribes. The group probably numbered about 6,000 in 1620, but smallpox and wars had reduced this to 3,000 by 1637.
Main article: Pequot War
In 1637 difficulties between the English settlers of Connecticut and Massachusetts and the Pequot became open warfare. The Mohegan and the Narragansett sided with the English. Perhaps 1,500 Pequot were killed, in specific battles or hunted down. Most of the rest were captured and distributed as slaves or household servants. Some few escaped to be absorbed by the MohawkThe Kanienkehaka or Mohawk tribe of Native American people live around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in what is now Canada and the United States. Their traditional homeland is further South, in New York State, around present day Albany,_New_York or on Long IslandThis article is about Long Island in New York State. For other uses, see Long Island (disambiguation Long Island part of New York State, is an island off the North American coast, some 118 miles (190 km) long, and from 12 to 20 miles wide, extending from. Of those enslaved, most were awarded to the allied tribes but some were sold to plantations in the West Indies. The Mohegan particularly treated the hostages and their descendants so badly that the English in Connecticut later removed them. Two reservations were founded by 1683 and remain in some form to this day.