Dispossession of Land

An essential component of settler-colonialism is removing, or dispossessing, native people from their land. Because native people's way of life did not align with their European sensibility of land ownership, the white Europeans who colonized New England falsely interpreted native people's way of life and land stewardship as "nomadic." Therefore, the colonists felt entitled to push native people off their traditional homelands through wars, shady land deals, and sketchy treaties. One 19th-century local historian falsely depicted the Pennacook in this manner:

"The Indians can hardly be said to have had proprietary right to the land. They were nomadic, occupying a certain territory as long as it afforded them a livelihood, their occupancy being determined largely by the superior strength of their particular tribe. The earlier cessions of land were made under a misconception on their part. They thought that the English, after a few years, would move on and leave the tract again to them. It was not easy to deal with them in buying land or in making treaties, as their government was on a loose system without a responsible head, so that it was uncertain that any compact made with them would be secure."

Following the murder or forced displacement of their people during Metacom's War, few Pennacook remained in Wamesit, which the settler-colonists noted as the Pennacook "abandoning" their homeland. In 1686, several residents of Chelmsford "purchased" the title to Wamesit and the surrounding lands.