Pequot

• CATEGORY: Tribe
• CULTURE AREA: Northeast
• LANGUAGE GROUP: Algonquian
• PRIMARY LOCATION: Connecticut
• POPULATION SIZE: 955 Pequot Tribal Grouping Alone (2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates American Indian and Alaska Native Detailed Tables Pequot Tribal Grouping Alone)

In the early seventeenth century, the Pequot, probably numbering about 13,000 persons, occupied a territory on the lower Thames River in present-day Connecticut. The Pequot were a horticultural people, subsisting mainly on corn, beans, and squash raised by the women. Men hunted to supplement these foods, and both sexes harvested the rich resources of fish and shellfish available nearby. There were two large, fortified villages with about seventy wigwams each, several smaller, unfortified ones, and some scattered hamlets. Sassacus, who became chief sachem in 1634, lived in the principal village, Weinshauks, in modern-day Groton. The chief sachem, chosen from a chiefly lineage or family, exercised a limited, traditional authority through persuasion and influence rather than direct power. Each subsidiary village had one or more local sachems. There were said to be twenty-six lesser sachems under Sassacus. This no doubt included those of conquered, tributary peoples. Considered the most warlike tribe in southern New England, the Pequot had forced several small tribes in the valley of lower Connecticut and on Long Island to become their tributaries.

The first European encounter came in the early 1600s with the Dutch. In 1633, a smallpox epidemic ravaged the region, reducing Pequot numbers to about 3,000. The severe population loss among the tribes of the lower Connecticut River encouraged English settlers from Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony to move into the area, disrupting Indigenous American political and economic arrangements. This, along with trade rivalries and attribution to the Pequot for the murder of several English traders, precipitated the Pequot War of 1636–37. Crushed in that war, many of the 1,000 to 1,500 Pequot survivors were divided among the colonists’ Indigenous American allies or sold as enslaved peoples. Others found a haven with distant Indigenous nations, and the Pequot were forbidden to have an independent existence for some years. In time, several small villages were permitted to reconstitute themselves.

In 1983, the Mashantucket Pequot Indian Land Claims Settlement Act granted federal recognition to the Mashantucket Pequot and allowed them to buy back more than 800 acres of land. Their reservation is found in Ledyard, Connecticut, and they have operated the Foxwoods Resort Casino since 1992. In 1908, the Eastern Algonquin language of the Pequot and Mohegan died with the last Indigenous speaker. However, the Mashantucket Pequot have sought to revive the language using vocabulary lists, prayers in translation, and diaries. In 2023, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation held celebrations surrounding its fortieth anniversary of federal recognition. The Mashantucket Pequot continued to evolve as an Indigenous people in the twenty-first century. As an environmental initiative, in the 2020s, the nation received over $1 million in federal funding to switch its Indigenous government vehicles to electric or hybrid. They also continued to examine economic development opportunities, receiving an additional federal grant to explore the possibility of launching a generic pharmaceutical factory in Connecticut.

Another reservation at North Stonington, Connecticut, near Long Pond and Lantern Hill, was designated for the Pequot in the 1670s and continued to be inhabited by their descendants in the twenty-first century. The Eastern and Paucatuck Pequot filed for federal recognition in the 1970s and 1980s, and they eventually joined efforts. In 2002, the Bureau of Indian Affairs recognized the Historical Eastern Pequot Tribe, but the US Department of the Interior challenged and overturned this designation three years later. As of the mid-2020s, they had yet to receive permanent federal recognition. However, both were considered state-recognized Indigenous nations. Further, the Department of the Interior was considering a proposal to allow previously denied petitioners another opportunity to apply for recognition.

Bibliography

"About Eastern Pequot." Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation, www.easternpequottribalnation.org/about. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

Bordonaro, Greg. "With $2.5M Grant, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation to Explore Launching CT Generic Drug Production Facility." Hartford Business Journal, 2 July 2024, www.hartfordbusiness.com/article/with-25m-grant-mashantucket-pequot-tribal-nation-to-explore-launching-ct-generic-drug. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

"Causes of the Pequot War." Connecticut History, 28 Nov. 2012, connecticuthistory.org/causes-of-the-pequot-war. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.

Libby, Sam. "Tribes to Revive Language." New York Times, 18 Oct. 1998, www.nytimes.com/1998/10/18/nyregion/tribes-to-revive-language.html. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

Poling, Lily Belle. "Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation Receives over $1.5 Million to Embrace Electric Vehicles." Yale Daily News, 9 Sept. 2024, yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/09/09/mashantucket-pequot-tribal-nation-receives-over-1-5-million-to-embrace-electric-vehicles. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

"2021: ACS 5-Year Estimates American Indian and Alaska Native Detailed Tables: Pequot Tribal Grouping Alone." United States Census Bureau, data.census.gov/table?q=pequot+tribal+grouping. Accessed 23 Oct. 2024.