Pokanoket or Wampanoag?: The Origins of Names

The Indigenous people who first interacted with the Pilgrims in 1620 identified as Pokanoket, not Wampanoag. The widespread use of "Wampanoag" to describe this group is a colonial-era distortion that emerged after King Philip’s War (1675–1678), obscuring the true political and cultural identity of Massasoit Ousamequin’s people. Drawing on primary sources, linguistic analysis, and colonial-era records, this paper argues that the Pokanoket were a distinct nation and the political center of a larger confederation in southern New England. By contrast, "Wampanoag" was originally a geographic descriptor meaning "easterner", a general term that only later took on a political meaning through colonial reinterpretation and institutional erasure.

The history of Indigenous peoples, the original inhabitants of what is now the United States, has long been distorted by colonial narratives. These stories, shaped to serve settler interests, persist today and continue to influence public understanding and institutional frameworks.The assumption that the Native American activism of the 1970s corrected these distortions is not only optimistic, it is misleading. It fosters a false sense of reassurance in the public eye, leading many to assume that the injustices of the past have been resolved and by extension, that there is no need to critically examine contemporary narratives or question the institutions that continue to shape them. This prevailing belief exists because Indigenous histories remain fragmented, often told by the very institutions that once sought their elimination, institutions that historically portrayed Indigenous peoples as obstacles, curiosities, or minor characters in the wake of Manifest Destiny.

In southern New England, the term "Wampanoag" has become a contested label, one that raises urgent questions about Indigenous identity, historical erasure, and political legitimacy.  The name "Pokanoket," once dominant in early colonial records, has been largely eclipsed by the more generic and state-sanctioned term "Wampanoag". This contemporary classification is often promoted by federal and state institutions to homogenize the diverse Indigenous peoples who inhabited the region. This shift is not accidental, as it reflects centuries of colonial pressure to rewrite Indigenous realities in more convenient, manageable terms. The consequences still reverberate for tribes like the Pokanoket, who refuse to be folded into the label “Wampanoag”, a term they view not only as inaccurate, but as an act of erasure. Instead, the Pokanoket Tribe continues the fight to reclaim its rightful place upon the ancestral land that remembers their name, even when the world has forgotten. To endure across generations, to speak their true name aloud, and to remain rooted in their oral traditions is not merely survival, it is an act of historical memory, intricately woven into the land, lineage, and identity of a people who refuse to be forgotten.

Language is central to this distortion. The term “Wampanoag” has been applied anachronically and broadly to describe multiple Indigenous groups from southeastern Massachusetts, but the historical record tells a more precise story. The Pokanoket Tribe were once sovereign over vast parts of this region, and their leader, Massasoit Ousamequin, signed a treaty with English settlers in 1621. Colonial-era documents, journals, treaties, and maps consistently refer to the people of this land as Pokanoket. The broader use of Wampanoag came later, now driven by federal bureaucracies such as the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) and the Office of Federal Acknowledgement (OFA), which seek to simplify, consolidate, and ultimately control Indigenous identity for political and administrative ease.  In this context, federally recognized tribes are often incentivized to defend the status quo and promote incomplete narratives, especially when competition for limited resources are at stake.