Who were the Wampanoags

Who were the Wampanoag?

Long before the Pilgrims arrived in 1620, the Wampanoag (wom-pa-NO-ag) and other Native Americans lived off the land in New England. The Wampanoag are most famous for greeting and making friends with the Pilgrims. They brought them corn and turkey to help them through the difficult winter.

For thousands of years the Wampanoag Indian ancestors lived on the southeastern coasts of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

Wampanoag means "People of the Dawn." They were expert farmers who also hunted, fished, and gathered food from the land. The Wampanoags shared in the Pilgrims' first Thanksgiving feast.

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