The Wappinger were a confederacy of seven Native American tribes. They traditionally lived along the east bank of the Hudson River from Manhattan Island to what is now Poughkeepsie, New York, and in the lower Connecticut River valley. They suffered greatly at the hands of Dutch colonists and no longer exist as a a tribe.

Society and culture

The Wappinger lived in bark-covered dwellings called wigwams. They cleared land near their permanent villages, where women grew corn (maize) and other crops. Men added to their food stores by hunting and fishing.

The Wappinger tribes were divided into bands. Each was governed by a sachem (chief) and a council of elders. Both men and women could become sachems.

History

The Wappinger first encountered non-Indians in 1524, when the explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano sailed up the North American coast. He was followed in 1609 by Henry Hudson, an English explorer serving the Dutch. Hudson claimed for The Netherlands the territory of the Wappinger and their Indian neighbors.

The Wappinger were eager to trade with the Dutch who came to their lands. They gave Dutch traders animal furs in exchange for European goods such as metal pots and tools. However, the Wappinger caught diseases such as smallpox and measles from the Dutch and died in large numbers.

The Wappinger population fell even lower as they were drawn into wars with the Dutch. The Dutch established settlements at New Amsterdam (now New York City) and Fort Orange (now Albany, New York). To protect their territory from Dutch expansion, the Wappinger and other nearby Indians went to war in the early 1640s.

The Dutch sought to kill off all their Indian enemies. They also paid the powerful Mohawk Indians to fight on their behalf. In 1643 a group of Wappinger sought refuge from the Mohawk in the Dutch settlement of Pavonia. Dutch soldiers slaughtered 80 of them—men, women, and children—as they slept. Another 30 were taken to New Amsterdam and tortured or killed. The Dutch expected the Pavonia Massacre to end the war. Instead, it only inspired the Indians to fight harder. Not until 1644 was the Indian force defeated.

Weakened by war and disease, most of the surviving Wappinger joined the Nanticoke tribe in the mid-18th century. These Wappinger and Nanticoke later merged with other tribes such as the Delaware (Lenni Lenape) and the Mahican. By the 19th century the Wappinger tribes no longer existed independently.