Wampanoag in the context of "Federally recognized"

Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England, founded in 1620, and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on the Mayflower at a location that had previously been surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement served as the capital of the colony and developed as the town of Plymouth, Massachusetts. At its height, Plymouth Colony occupied most of what is now the southeastern portion of Massachusetts. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American folklore, including the American tradition of Thanksgiving and the monument of Plymouth Rock.

Plymouth Colony was founded by a group of Protestant Separatists initially known as the Brownist Emigration, who came to be known as the Pilgrims. The colony established a treaty with Wampanoag chief Massasoit which helped to ensure its success; in this, they were aided by Squanto, a member of the Patuxet tribe. Plymouth played a central role in King Philip's War (1675–1678), one of several Indian Wars. The colony was ultimately merged with the Massachusetts Bay Colony and other territories in 1691 to form the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

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.

Tisquantum (/tɪsˈkwɒntəm/; c. 1585 (±10 years?) – November 30, 1622 O.S.), more commonly known as Squanto (/ˈskwɒntoʊ/), was a member of the Patuxet tribe of Wampanoags, best known for being an early liaison between the Native American population in Southern New England and the Mayflower Pilgrims who made their settlement at the site of Tisquantum's former summer village, now Plymouth, Massachusetts. The Patuxet tribe had lived on the western coast of Cape Cod Bay, but were wiped out by an epidemic, traditionally assumed to be smallpox brought by previous European explorers; however, recent findings suggest that the disease was Leptospirosis, a bacterial infection transmitted to humans typically via "dirty water" or soil contaminated with the waste product of infected, often domestic animals, and also likely of European origin.

In 1614, Tisquantum was kidnapped by English slaver, Captain Thomas Hunt, who trafficked him to Spain, selling him in the city of Málaga. He and several other captives were said to have been ransomed by local Franciscan friars who focused on their education and evangelization. Having learned English during his captivity, he eventually travelled to England and managed to find a way back across the Atlantic. He arrived back to his native village in America in 1619, only to find that he had become the last of the Patuxet as his tribe had been wiped out by epidemic; so he then went to live with the Wampanoags.

King Philip's War (sometimes called the First Indian War, Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, Pometacomet's Rebellion, or Metacom's Rebellion) was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands against the English New England Colonies and their indigenous allies. The war is named for Metacom (alternatively Metacomet), the Pokanoket chief and sachem of the Wampanoag who had adopted the English name Philip because of the friendly relations between his father Massasoit and the Plymouth Colony. The war continued in the most northern reaches of New England until the signing of the Treaty of Casco Bay on April 12, 1678.

Massasoit had maintained a long-standing agreement with the colonists, and Metacom (c. 1638–1676), his younger son, became the tribal chief in 1662 after his father's death. Metacom, however, forsook his father's alliance between the Wampanoags and the colonists after repeated violations by the latter. The colonists insisted that the 1671 peace agreement should include the surrender of Native guns; then three Wampanoags were hanged in Plymouth Colony in 1675 for the murder of another Wampanoag, which increased tensions. Native raiding parties attacked homesteads and villages throughout Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, and Maine over the next six months, and the colonial militia retaliated. The colonies assembled the largest army that New England had yet mustered, consisting of 1,000 militia and 150 Native allies. Governor Josiah Winslow marshaled them to attack the Narragansetts in November 1675. They attacked and burned Native villages throughout Rhode Island territory, culminating with the attack on the Narragansetts' main fort in the Great Swamp Fight. An estimated 600 Narragansetts were killed, and their coalition was taken over by Narragansett sachem Canonchet. They pushed back the borders of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Rhode Island colonies, burning towns as they went, including Providence in March 1676. However, the colonial militia overwhelmed the Native coalition following the Mohawk decision to side with the colonial alliance. By the end of the war, the Wampanoags and their Narragansett allies were almost completely destroyed. On August 12, 1676, Metacom fled to Mount Hope where he was killed by the militia. However, fighting by the Abenaki continued in the New England-Acadia border.