Native Inhabitants

Native Inhabitants. . , You are standing on ancestral lands of the Muh-He-Con-Neok, "the people of the waters that are never still." Called Mohicans by the English, these Algonquin-speaking peoples are now officially known as the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. By the early 1700s their culture was severely threatened by European colonization, and they were eventually forced from New York amid Indian removal efforts of the 19th century., Fragments of the Past , Projectile points, pottery shards and other act reveal that Mohicans and their predecessors lived and hunted on this site for more than 6,000 years before the arrival of Dutch setters Archaeological evidence suggests that Mohicans were engaged in trade with the Dutch here by the mid 1600s, the earliest period of European settlement in Columbia County., The River That Flows Both Ways , The lives of the Mohicans were oriented around the Mahicannituck, "the river that flows both ways"-known today as the Hudson River. Along tributaries such as Kinderhook Creek, they scavenged for fish and mussels, hunted animals for food and clothing, and grew crops of squash, beans and corn, using every part of their natural environment with respect and care., [Timeline:] , 10,000 BC-AD 1609 Pre-Contact , Paleoindian hunter-gatherers inhabit he Hudson River Valley. Small settlements of Mochicans prevalent in Columbia County AD 1500, 1609 Dutch Arrival , Mohicans encounter Henry Hudson on the Mahicannituck (renamed the Hudson River) and form trade relationships with the Dutch settlers that follow, 1624 New Netherland established, 1620-1700 Rising Conflict , Land disputes with colonists and clashes with rival Mohawk Indians over the fur trade force the Mohicans east toward the Housatonic River in Massachusetts, 1664 British colonial rule begins, 1735-1774 Cultural Changes , Mohicans and other displaced Native peoples resettle in Stockbridge where they become known as Stockbridge Indians. Many convert to Christianity and adopt English ways, 1775 -1783 Revolutionary War , American Independence , Stockbridge Indians join the colonists in the fight for American independence, suffering heavy losses. During the war, nearly all of their land is confiscated, 1784-1830s Indian Removal , Facing pressure, the group travels halfway across the continent in search of new homelands - a journey remembered as the Stockbridge-Mohicans' Trail of Tears, 1830-1840 Tribes Merge , The Stockbridge join with a group of Delaware peoples originally from southern New York to form the Stockbridge Munsee Band of Mohican Indians., 1856-Present A New Era , Treaty of 1856 gives the group federally recognized tribal land in Shawano County, Wisconsin, where they now work to preserve and revitalize their cultural values, For more information, visit CCHSNY.ORG, [Captions:] , Landing of Hendrick Hudson, 1609, at Verplanck Point, New York. 1874 hand-colored engraving, from the original 1835 canvas painting by Hudson River School painter Robert Walter Weir. Martin Johnson and Co. Publishers, N.Y. CCHS Collection., Mohican territory once extended from Lake Champlain to the lower Hudson Valley, and included parts of New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont. Around half the Mohican population died from diseases introduced by Europeans, while predatory land deals and conflicts with rival tribes led to a total loss of territory by the late 1700s.