Narragansett people in the context of "Pequot War"

A Key into the Language of America or An help to the Language of the Natives in that part of America called New England is a book written by Roger Williams in 1643 describing the Native American languages in New England in the 17th century, largely Narragansett, an Algonquian language. The book is the first published colonial study of a Native American language in English.

Williams was one of the founders of the Colony of Rhode Island and an exile from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The book was in part written to halt Massachusetts Bay's claims to Rhode Island's territory. Williams also argued against confiscating Indian land, arguing that the Indians had a right to payment. He had personally interacted with the Narragansett and the Wampanoag tribes as a missionary, friend, and trader, and he wrote favorably about elements of their culture. The book helped to introduce a number of American Indian loan words into the English lexicon.

Massasoit Sachem (/ˌmæsəˈsɔɪ(ɪ)t/ MASS-ə-SOYT, -⁠SOY-it) or Ousamequin (c. 1581 – 1661) was the sachem or leader of the Wampanoag confederacy. Massasoit means Great Sachem. Although Massasoit was only his title, English colonists mistook it as his name and it stuck.

Massasoit's people had been seriously weakened by a series of epidemics and were vulnerable to attacks by the Narragansetts, and he formed an alliance with the colonists at Plymouth Colony for defense against them. It was through his assistance that the Plymouth Colony avoided starvation during the early years.

The Niantic (/naɪˈæntɪk/ ny-AN-tik; Nehântick or Nehantucket) are a tribe of Algonquian-speaking American Indians who lived in the area of Connecticut and Rhode Island during the early colonial period. The tribe's name Nehântick means "of long-necked waters"; area residents believe that this refers to the "long neck" or peninsula of land known as Black Point, located in the village of Niantic, Connecticut.

The Niantic people were divided into eastern and western groups due to intrusions by the more numerous and powerful Pequots. The Western Niantics were subject to the Pequots and lived just east of the mouth of the Connecticut River, while the Eastern Niantics became very close allies to the Narragansetts. It is likely that the name Nantucket is derived from the tribe's endonym, Nehantucket.