![]() ![]() The 53 surviving are said to have eaten with 90 indigenous people in what became known as the first Thanksgiving. It was one built on mutual interest - the colonists who become known as the Pilgrims needed help to survive, and the Wampanoag needed the colonists' help in warding off aggressive rival tribes.įollowing a successful harvest in the autumn of 1621, the colonists decided to celebrate with a three-day festive of prayer. This is was not thought to be an easy alliance though. The Pilgrims were able to establish a peace treaty with Massasoit and the Wampanoag went on to teach them how to hunt, plant crops and how to get the best of their harvest, saving the Pilgrims from starvation. His interest in the Wampanoag tribe resulted a relationship forming between the settlers and the Native Americans. Read more about the history of the Wampanoag people hereĪ meeting was arranged with the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit, and when he visited the settlement one of the first to greet him was Edward Winslow.Ī leader in the Separatist group, Winslow had not only been instrumental in organising the journey to America, but was also one of the men who signed the historic Mayflower Compact. ![]() Read more about the haunting role slavery plays in the Mayflower story here.He had returned to his homeland having been liberated and working as interpreter for another sailor. Squanto had been previously abducted by European sailors and sold into slavery. He was a member of the Wampanoag, and after a night talking with the settlers he brought another English speaking Native American called Tisquantum - also known as Squanto, to meet the Pilgrims. In March 1621, it is said that an English speaking Native American, called Samoset, entered the Plymouth colony and introduced himself. Once his crew began to recover from disease, the Mayflower’s captain Christopher Jones sailed the Mayflower back to England, taking half the time that it did on its outward journey. By the end of the first winter, 50 of the 102 original Mayflower passengers had lost their lives. Many had stayed on board the Mayflower, which soon became home to the sick and dying. Setting foot on land, no one was prepared for the harsh winter ahead and the colonists struggled to build their settlement, find food and ward off sickness. The tribe had abandoned the village several years previously following the outbreak of a deadly disease known as the Great Dying brought to their shores by European sailors and slavers.ĭeciding they would face no resistance in settling there, the colonists departed the shores of Provincetown arriving in Plymouth Bay Massachusetts on December 26, 1620. The Mayflower replica in Plymouth Bay, MassachusettsĪfter exploring the area, the settlers chose a clearing previously occupied by the Wampanoag, a local Native American tribe. Once the colonists agreed to work together, the Pilgrims sent search parties ashore to find an ideal place for them to settle, while also collecting juniper wood to burn in the ship’s rancid living quarters in order to make it smell a little better. This was later claimed to be one of the foundations of American democracy. This laid down the rules for the Mayflower Pilgrims to abide by before going ashore, and for the good of their new colony. The video below seeks to tell the story from the point of view of the Wampanoag tribe, descendants of those who watched the Mayflower arrive on their shores in 1620.Īfter 66 days at sea in truly unpleasant stormy conditions, the Mayflower and its passengers finally reached North America on 21 November, 1620.īut instead of laying anchor in New Virginia where they had permission to colonise, storms had forced the Mayflower far off course and the ship landed in Cape Harbour, at what is now Provincetown - a place in which they technically had no right to settle.Ī document, called the Mayflower Compact, was drafted and signed by 41 of the men on board. ![]() It involves two groups of people - colonists who were aboard the Mayflower and the Native American people whose land they chose to settle on.Īnd although this groups formed an alliance for a time, the events of the 17th century and the years that followed the arrival of the Mayflower led to the unprecedented mass killing of Native American people, the seizing of their lands and the enslavement of their people.įor those descended from those who survived, it is not Thanksgiving - it is a National Day of Mourning. Instead, the mutual understanding between the two groups led to one of the world's most well-known dates - Thanksgiving.īut the story of Thanksgiving is more than turkey and Pilgrims. Without the help of the Native American community they met upon settling in America, the Mayflower Pilgrims would have likely never survived. ![]()
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