chiefdom · North America and Oceania

Pequot Nation

1600 CE – 1638 CE (approx.)

The leading power of 17th-century eastern Connecticut, whose defeat in the Pequot War of 1636 to 1638 opened southern New England to English expansion.

Origins

The Pequot lived along the Thames and Mystic rivers in what is now south-eastern Connecticut. By the early 17th century they had become the dominant people of the region, collecting tribute from neighbours and controlling the production and trade of wampum shell beads, which the Dutch of New Netherland bought in exchange for cloth and metal goods.

Rule and society

Grand sachems such as Tatobem and his son Sassacus ruled through councils of lesser sachems and fortified villages. Their wealth from the wampum trade, and their alliance with the Dutch, made them targets: the Dutch killed Tatobem in 1633 or 1634, and rival sachem Uncas broke away to lead the Mohegan. English settlement in the Connecticut valley from 1633 brought rising tension.

Decline and legacy

In 1637 English forces under John Mason, with Mohegan and Narragansett allies, burned the fortified village at Mystic, killing around 400 to 700 people. The Treaty of Hartford in 1638 dissolved the nation. Survivors later regained reservations at Mashantucket and Lantern Hill.

Connections (2)

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). Pequot Nation. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pequot-nation
MLA
“Pequot Nation.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pequot-nation. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “Pequot Nation.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pequot-nation.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Pequot Nation’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/pequot-nation (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻