Mythologies of the Metoac Tribes

Metoac is an erroneous term used by some to group together the Munsee-speaking Lenape (west), Quiripi-speaking Unquachog (center) and Pequot-speaking Montaukett (east) American Indians on what is now Long Island in New York state. The term was invented by amateur anthropologist and U.S. Congressman Silas Wood in the mistaken belief that the various native settlements on the island each comprised distinct tribes. Instead, Indian peoples on Long Island at the time of European contact came from only two major language and cultural groups of the many Algonquian peoples who occupied Atlantic coastal areas from present-day Canada through the American South. The bands on Long Island in the west were part of the Lenape. Those to the east were culturally and linguistically connected to tribes of New England across Long Island Sound, such as the Pequot. Wood (and earlier colonial settlers) often confused Indian place names, by which the bands were known, as the names for different tribes living there. Many of the place names that the Lenape and Pequot populations used to refer to their villages and communities were adopted by English settlers and are still in use today. The Shinnecock Indian Nation, based in part of what is now Southampton, New York in Suffolk County, has gained federal recognition as a tribe and has a reservation there. "Metoac" as a collective term may have been derived by Wood from metau-hok, the Algonquian word for the rough periwinkle, the shell of which small sea snail was used to make wampum, a means of exchange which played an important role in the culture and economy of the region before and after the arrival of Europeans.

Metoac Indians (contraction of Meht-anaw-ack, ‘land of the ear-shell or periwinkle. Tooker). A collective term embracing the Indians of Long Island, New York, who seem to have been divided into the following tribes, subtribes, or bands: Canarsee, Corchaug, Manhasset, Massapequa, Matinecoc, Merric, Montauk, Nesaquake, Patchoag, Rockaway, Secatoag, Setauket, and Shinnecock. There were besides these some minor bands or villages which have received special designations. They were closely connected linguistically and politically, and were probably derived from the same immediate ethnic stein. Ruttenber classes them as branches of the Mahican. The Montauk, who formed the leading tribe in the eastern part of the island, are often confounded with the Metoac, and in some instances the Canarsee of the western part have also been confounded with them. The eastern tribes were at one time subject to the Pequot and afterward to the Narraganset, while the Iroquois claimed dominion over the western tribes. They were numerous at the first settlement of the island, but rapidly wasted away from epidemics and wars with other Indians and with the Dutch, disposing of their lands piece by piece to the whites. About 1788 a large part of the survivors joined the Brotherton Indians in Oneida county, N. Y. The rest, represented chiefly by the Montauk and Shinnecock, have dwindled to perhaps a dozen individuals of mixed blood. The Indians of Long Island were a seafaring people, mild in temperament, diligent in the pursuits determined by their environment, skilled in the management of the canoe, seine, and spear, and dexterous in the making of seawan or wampum (Flint). The chieftaincies were hereditary by lineal descent, including females when there was no male representive.

'Metoac' is a geographic rather than a political grouping of the tribes of Long Island. For no other reason than the fact that Manhattan was also an island, the tribe of that name is often included under the 'Metoac' label. Linguistically, the tribes on Staten Island are considered to be of the Unami sub-division of the Lenni-Lenape (Delaware). Since all of the Long Island tribes were culturally similar, not only to each other but to other south-coastal tribes in New England, and there is no general consensus on their classification, the word 'Metoac' is an acceptable term of convenience. The 'Metoac' were an agricultural people who complemented their diet with fishing and hunting. Although they lived in villages, there was regular seasonal movement in a fixed pattern to take advantage of the resources. Villages were generally small and rarely fortified until they were living under constant threat after 1630. Although they sometimes joined in loose alliances, their lack of a durable central authority before contact was a clear indication there was little intertribal conflict. By far the most distinctive characteristic of the 'Metoac' was their important role in native trade. It was the severe misfortune of the 'Metoac' to occupy the northern shore of Long Island which was the source of the best wampum in the north-east region of North America. Each summer, the 'Metoac' collected clam shells from the waters of Long Island Sound which, during the winter, were meticulously shaped into small beads. Strung together in long strands, they were called wampompeag - condensed somewhat by the English colonists into the more accustomed form of 'wampum'. The Dutch called it 'siwan' (or 'sewan'). The 'Metoac' traded this painstakingly-crafted product to other tribes (most notably the Mahican) and thrived as a result. Passed from tribe to tribe, Long Island wampum made its way as far west as the Black Hills of South Dakota! The strings of shell beads were sometimes employed as an elementary currency in native trade, but they were also valued for personal adornment. Arranged into belts whose designs could express ideas, wampum was also used in native diplomacy to seal important agreements, such as war and peace.

The Metoac (Long Island Indians), including the Montauk, Corchaug, Shinnecock, Manhasset, Rockaway, and Patchogue, lived in the eastern and central parts of Long Island, New York. Their descendants now live in small communities in the area or have been absorbed into other groups who removed to the West in the late 1700s. They spoke Algonkian languages and numbered about five hundred in 1970. Conkey, Laura E., Ethel Boissevain, and Ives Goddard (1978). "Indians of Southern New England: Late Period." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15, Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, 177-189. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution. Salwen, Bert (1978). "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island: Early Period." In Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15, Northeast, edited by Bruce G. Trigger, 160-176. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution.