Nipmuc

The Nipmuc or Nipmuck people are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands, who historically spoke an Eastern Algonquian language, probably the Loup language. Their historic territory Nippenet, meaning 'the freshwater pond place', is in central Massachusetts and nearby parts of Connecticut and Rhode Island. The Nipmuc Tribe had contact with traders and fishermen from Europe prior to the colonization of the Americas. The first recorded contact with Europeans was in 1630, when John Acquittamaug took maize to sell to the starving colonists of Boston, Massachusetts. After the colonists encroached on their land, and introduced legislation designed to encourage further European settlement, many Nipmucs joined Metacomet's war, known as King Philip's War, in 1675, though they were unable to defeat the colonists. Many Nipmuc were held captive on Deer Island in Boston Harbor and died of disease and malnutrition, while others were executed or sold into slavery in the West Indies. Christian missionary John Eliot arrived in Boston in 1631. After learning the Massachusett language, which was widely understood throughout New England, he converted numerous Native Americans to Christianity, and with the help of Wawaus, also known as James the Printer, published a Bible translated in Massachusett and a Massachusett grammar. Backed by the colonial government, he established several "Indian plantations" or praying towns, where Native Americans were induced to settle and be instructed in European customs and converted to Christianity. The state of Massachusetts has a diplomatic relationship with the Hassanamisco Nipmuc and the Chaubunagungamaug Band of Nipmuc Indians.