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Northeast Wigwam: People of the Small Point
At contact time with Europeans, the Narragansetts and Niantics probably numbered more than 35,000 people, but diseases such as smallpox brought into this country by Europeans and the Great Swamp Fight (a major battle in King Philip's War) in December, 1675 decreased this number in the Rhode Island area to what some estimate as little more than 1,000 people by the early 18th century.
In the years following King Philip's War, the Niantics, the Narragansetts and members of a few smaller tribes merged to become what is now known as the Narragansett Indian Tribe of Rhode Island. These Native Americans who originally occupied most of the state of Rhode Island and parts of Connecticut and Massachusetts, became centrally located at a reservation in Charlestown, Rhode Island in 1682.
The first free school house built in America is reported to have been the Narragansett Indian School House, built in the late 17th century at the insistence of Chief Sachem Ninigret.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Narragansetts were known for their stone mason work which can be seen throughout the landscape of southern New England. Today, the Narragansett are a federally recognized tribe with a tribal enrollment of more than 2,200 people. Their current reservation at Charlestown, Rhode Island is more than 1,800 acres. Although federally recognized, the Narragansett, along with many other tribes in the U.S. are fully subject to state or local jurisdiction.
--written by Harold and Deborah Champlain, Narragansett
American Indian languages
