The few remnants of Wampanoag oral tradition are vague on the point of tribal history and origins. Most often mentioned is the idea that they came from somewhere to the south and west of their present home. Indeed, this may, according to the thinking of anthropologists, be the direction from which they received the corn that they were cultivating in at least the 16th century. However, the question of a true tribal history must, as is so often the case with pre-literate peoples, remain unanswered.
Early explorers and settlers had their own ideas as to the origins of the Indians they found in the New World. A popular belief was that these were descendants of one of the Biblical “lost tribes of Israel”. Some scholars went to great lengths to show that this was so by comparing the languages and religious concepts of the two groups. Along with this idea went a belief that the skin of the Indians was actually light, but that it was dyed brown during infancy.[16]Whatever may have been the course of their pre-contact history, the arrival of the white man was certainly a significant event for the culture of the Indians of southeastern New England.
Changes were being introduced into Indian culture long before the arrival of the first permanent European settlers. Fishing and whaling industries brought large numbers of ships (nearly four hundred in 1578) to the vicinity of Newfoundland and Cape Breton; incidental trade in furs between the Indians and these vessels covered a six-hundred mile range that undoubtedly included New England.[17]Indian graves which date from this period contain European trade items—the first evidence of the changes being introduced into native culture.[18]The Indians seem especially to have appreciated the value of the metal tools which the Europeans brought.[19]Their own use of metal had been limited to the making of ornaments out of native copper. For heavy work, such as felling trees and dressing game, stone tools were used.
The increasing substitution of metal tools for stone ones brought about changes in Indian technology that continued through the seventeenth century. The situation for New England Indians in general is summarized by Willoughby:
After and during the first two or three decades of the seventeenth century the Indians received from European traders, especially from the French and Dutch, cloth, kettles, hatchets, and many other objects, and the graves of that period have yielded numerous articles of this nature. The native industries of the people rapidly declined. It was principally among the women that the finer arts survived for a time, such as the better class of bag and basket making, porcupine and moose-hair embroidery, etc., although the men continued for a period the production of their excellent wooden bowls and drinking cups.[20]
After and during the first two or three decades of the seventeenth century the Indians received from European traders, especially from the French and Dutch, cloth, kettles, hatchets, and many other objects, and the graves of that period have yielded numerous articles of this nature. The native industries of the people rapidly declined. It was principally among the women that the finer arts survived for a time, such as the better class of bag and basket making, porcupine and moose-hair embroidery, etc., although the men continued for a period the production of their excellent wooden bowls and drinking cups.[20]
Technological change was not, however, only a matter of the loss of skill at aboriginal crafts. The Indians were quick to learn useful new techniques from the English settlers. They learned the art of pewter casting, and thus produced pipes and buttons.[21]A further use for their new-found knowledge of metallurgy was noted by Governor Bradford:
They have also their moulds to make shotte, of all sorts, as muskett bulletts, pistoll bullets, swan and gose shote, and of smaler sorts; yea, some have seen them have their scruplates to make scrupins themselves, when they wante them, with sundery other implements, wher with they are ordinarily better fited and furnished then the English them selves.[22]
They have also their moulds to make shotte, of all sorts, as muskett bulletts, pistoll bullets, swan and gose shote, and of smaler sorts; yea, some have seen them have their scruplates to make scrupins themselves, when they wante them, with sundery other implements, wher with they are ordinarily better fited and furnished then the English them selves.[22]
The history of contact between primitive peoples and Europeans has tended to be similar throughout the world, in that the first to contact and deal with the natives were usually entrepreneurs looking for new profits, followed by missionaries looking to save souls. The Wampanoags likewise experienced this phenomenon. While it was the intention of those who went there to settle to bring Christianity to the Indians, preparations for such a monumental task were not very well laid. English colonists had their hands full for a number of years just getting a living. They had made no provisions for the maintenance of missionaries to the Indians, and English congregations were not eager to spare their own ministers for the task. Thus, it was not until the middle of the seventeenth century at least before systematic attempts to change the Indians’ belief system were begun.
Notable among those who took up the mission to the Indians of southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island were Roger Williams, John Elliot, and the Mayhews, father and son. Quite a number of converts were made.[23]Converted Indians were encouraged to dwell together in what came to be dubbed “praying towns”. Such Indians were required to adopt European culture wholeheartedly in terms of dress, housing, habits, etc., and they were required to learn to read as part of their conversion so that they could study the scriptures. The majority of Indians seem to have refused conversion; however, the change on the part of some of them can hardly but have had influence upon the rest.
Another introduction from European culture was alcohol, previously unknown to the Wampanoags and their neighbors. This became a popular item of trade, and some Indians undertook the cultivation of apples for the purpose of making cider.[24]