Massasoit (1581-1661) was the sachem of the Wampanoag tribe and the leader of the Pokanoket at the time of the Pilgrims' founding of the Plymouth Colony in 1620.
Biography[]
Massasoit was born in the Pokanoket village of Montaup (now Bristol, Rhode Island) in 1581, and he became the chief of the Pokanoket and the sachem of the entire Wampanoag nation. Massasoit formed an alliance with the New Englander Pilgrims of the Plymouth Colony against the rival Narragansetts, and the Wampanoags remained neutral during the Pequot War in 1636. In 1623, Edward Winslow nursed Massasoit backed to health, ensuring that he would never forget their kindness. In 1649, he sold a 14-square mile tract of land to the Pilgrims. The peace between the settlers and Pokanoket lasted until Massasoit's death in 1661, and his son Metacomet (known to the English as "King Philip") would go to war with the English in "King Philip's War" during the 1670s.