From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians 1600-1830

Starna, William

This report presents the history of the Mahican Indians while resident in their homeland of the Hudson and upper Housatonic Valleys and their subsequent consolidation at Stockbridge prior to their displacement westward. This report describes the history of the Mahican Indians, ancestors of members of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community (Wisconsin), while they were residing in their homeland in the Hudson Valley and upper Housatonic Valleys in New York and western Massachusetts, and their subsequent consolidation at Stockbridge and then in Oneida country, prior to their displacement westward in 1830. The report contextualizes Mahican relations with surrounding Native groups (Munsees, Mohawks, St. Lawrence Algonquians and New England Algonquians), and Mahican interactions with European colonists (Dutch, English and French) which introduced substantial economic, political and cultural changes and the alienation of Mahican lands. The Mahicans eventually reached an accommodation with missionaries leading to their settlement at Stockbridge. An important outcome of this history is a spatial analysis of the Mahican homeland drawing on primary sources, archeology and historical linguistics. The study presents an original synthesis of the critical years from 1630 to 1730, during which the Mahicans solidified their relations with the New England Algonquians to challenge the Mohawks and their Iroquoian confederates, which ultimately disadvantaged the Mahicans and led to a loss of power and their accommodation with the missionaries and amalgamation at Stockbridge.

From Homeland to New Land: A History of the Mahican Indians 1600-1830

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