Mohegan

Mohegan (mōhē`gən), Native North Americans whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). Also called the Mohican, they were the eastern branch of the Mahican. In the early 17th cent. the Mohegan occupied most of SE Connecticut, their chief village being on the site of the present village of Mohegan on the Thames River. When European settlers arrived in this region, the Mohegan and the Pequot were one tribe, living under the rule of Sassacus. Later Uncas, a subordinate chief, rebelled against Sassacus and assumed the leadership of a small group on the Thames River near Norwich. This group was known as the Mohegan. After the fall of Sassacus the greater part of the Pequot joined the Mohegan, who in 1643 numbered some 2,300. The Mohegan, supported by the British, became one of the most powerful tribes in S New England. As white settlements were extended, the Mohegan sold most of their land and accepted a reservation on the Thames; others joined with neighboring tribes. By the early 19th cent. the Mohegans were practically extinct, although they became known to the world with the publication in 1826 of James Fenimore Cooper's novel The Last of the Mohicans. In 1990 there were about 1,000 Mohegan in the United States; they gained federal recognition as a tribe in 1994. In 1996 the tribe opened a casino and resort on its reservation in Montville, Ct.

Bibliography

See A. L. Peale, Uncas and the Mohegan-Pequot (1939).

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Mohegan

Algonquian-speaking North American Indian people who traditionally inhabited the area of southeastern Connecticut, U.S. They later seized land in Massachusetts and Rhode Island from other tribes. Their economy was based on corn (maize) cultivation, hunting, and fishing. In the 17th century the Mohegan and the Pequot tribes were ruled jointly by a Pequot chief, but a rebellion led to Mohegan independence and the destruction of the Pequot. Having made an alliance with the English, the Mohegan were the largest tribe remaining in southern New England after King Philip's War (1675–76). Population estimates indicated some 2,500 Mohegan descendants in the early 21st century.