Natural / Environmental Change, Colonial: Metacomet

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Similar content addressed in SOLs: VS.1a-i; USI.1a-h; USI.4b

Metacomet was a chief of the Wampanoag in the mid 1600s. In 1675 he launched an attack on the Puritans of Massachusetts BayMassachusetts Bay colony grew in the 1640s and 1650s, the colonists increasingly moved westward into Wampanoag territory to satiate the resource needs of their burgeoning population. With the Europeans moving onto their land, increasingly depleting resources, and forcing the Wampanoags further inland, King Philip and his fellow warriors launched an attack to defend their traditional homeland and assert their rights.

  • King (Metacomet) Philip, Sachem of the Wampanoags, d. 1676, full length, standing at treaty table with white menThis drawing shows an artist's take on a meeting between Metacomet and the colonists.
  • Pascaert van Nieuw Nederlandt Virginia, ende Nieuw-Engelandt verthonendt alles wat van die landin by See, oft by land is ondect oft BekentNative Americans and Europeans had different views of how land should be used. The Native Americans believed that people had a special relationship with the land and did not own it, but instead simply used it responsibly in a reciprocal relationship. In contrast, the Europeans believed land was meant to be used, exploited, and owned by people. So when they saw how Native Americans used the land, they believed that they could take it because the Native Americans were not using it in a way the Europeans thought was proper.
  • Laliberte's fur parlor--the finest in the world, Quebec, CanadaBy owning the land and introducing new techniques of farming, the Europeans changed the actual set-up of the land and its ecosystems. For instance, beavers, large bears, cougars, panthers, and other animals once thrived in New England. But a combination of ecosystem change and hunting (for skins like those seen here) led to a decimation in population size, if not outright extinction.
  • Landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth 11th Dec. 1620This painting, created in the mid 1800s, shows what an artist imagined Plymouth, Massachusetts to look like in 1620. The artist depicts a rocky, hilly terrain complete with large trees and vegetation. According to studies of environmental historians like William Cronon, this was not far from the truth. Massachusetts in the 17th century was a densely forested region.
  • New England hurricane. Onion field near Hadley, MassachusettsThis is a picture of Massachusetts in the 1900s. Years of invasive farming techniques changed the actual physical layout of the land. Much of what was once dense forest became, over time, a flatter land that was more amenable to agricultural needs of the area's inhabitants.