Pequot Indians Essay

The Pequot Indians were a Native American Algonquian tribe of Connecticut. The name Pequot essentially by definition of the Algonkian means “destroyer.” They were the most dreaded of the Southern New England tribes, that is before the conquest by the English in 1637. Many believe they were originally one of the people within the Mohegan tribe. The division of them from the tribe of the Mohegan seemed to have been when there was a secession of the Uncas who had a dispute with the Sassacus. As the Mohegan got their name, they claimed the greater part of the territory that was formerly the Sassacus’s territory. The Pequot on the other hand, was a small strip of Coast amongst the New London London County and extended from the Niantic River to the Rhode Island boundary. The Pequot
The Pequot wanted to control the wampum and fur trade during the 1620s the even tried to conquer other tribes amongst the Connecticut and the islands offshore. As of the year 1635, the pequots control had extended through force and warfare throughout dozens of tribes. The Dutch and the Pequot, for a small amount of time, controlled all trade within their region, however, many of the native tribes were resentful towards the Pequot. Later, in the 1630s, English settlers arrived in the Connecticut River Valley and shifted the balance of power and took over the control of the trade. The English’s goals were to end the Dutch-Pequot control of the fur and wampum trade, while on the other hand, the pequots goals were to maintain their political and economical dominance in their area. The English’s arrival in the Connecticut River Valley ended in severe conflict and competition for the Battle of control over trade and this later resulted in the beginning of the Pequot