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The Narragansett tribe, or more accurately Nahahiganseck Sovereign
Nation, are a Native
American tribe who controlled the area
surrounding Narragansett Bay in
present-day Rhode Island, and also
portions of Connecticut, and eastern Massachusetts. The
Nahahiganseck culture has existed in the region for thousands of years, trading
extensively, and the town of Narragansett,
Rhode Island is named after them. Although they suffered greatly from King Philip's War,
the Narragansett absorbed members of other tribes to reboost numbers, especially
the Niantic tribe, now
fully merged into the Narragansett. According to tribal rolls there are
approximately 2,400 members of the Narragansett Tribe today.
The museum of the Nahahiganseck is the Tomaquag Indian Memorial Museum in Exeter, Rhode
Island. The school for the Nahahiganseck children is the Nuweetooun School
at the same museum.
The word "Narragansett" means, literally, "[the people] of/at the small,
narrow point." Some members still speak the original Algonquian language although
it had died out and was only partially reclaimed from books in the early 20th
century. |