Montaukett

The Montaukett ("Metoac"), more commonly known as Montauk, are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people from the eastern and central sections of Long Island, New York, United States.

The exact meaning of the name Montauk is unknown, although it derives from a place name in the Mohegan-Montauk-Narragansett language; it roughly translates to "the fort country." The Montaukett ("Metoac" or Matouwac) were Native Americans on Long Island. Their bands were often referred to in colonial writings by the place name of their geographic territories, such as the Montauk and the Shinnecock peoples, which may or may not have been the same as their name for themselves. European colonists tended to mistakenly assume that the different bands they encountered were different tribes, even in cases where the bands clearly shared the same culture and language.

The Montaukett are an Algonquian-speaking Native American people from the eastern and central sections of Long Island, New York. The Montauk spoke an Eastern Algonquian language. Prior to the 17th century, the Montauk people spoke the Mohegan-Pequot language, also known as the Algonquian "N" dialect, until about 1600 when they moved to the "Y" dialect.

On March 25, 1798, John Lyon Gardiner wrote:

“March 25, 1798. A vocabulary of the Indian language spoken by the Montauk tribe. George Pharoah, aged 66, oldest man of that tribe and their chief gave me this specimen of their language. There are only about seven persons that can now speak this language and a few years more and it will be gone forever. It was spoken with little difference by all the Indians upon the East end of Long Island and perhaps the whole Island and the adjoining Islands. George says the Moheags of Connecticut speak the same language. George repeated these words several times and I write them as near as he pronounced as I can with the English alphabet.”

The Native Americans of the east end of the Island shared a common culture with each other and with Lenape groups along most of the northern shore of what is now called Long Island Sound. The Montauk are specifically related in language and ethnicity to the Pequot and Narragansett peoples who live across Long Island Sound in what are now Connecticut and Rhode Island. American ethnologist John R. Swanton identified the following subdivisions of the Montauk: Corehaug, Manhasset, Massapequa, Matinecock, Merric, Montauk (proper), Nesaquake, Patchoque, Rockaway, Secatogue, Setauket, and Shinnecock. Swanton also identified several Montauk villages including Aquebogue, Ashamomuck, Cutchogue, Massapequa, Merric, Montauk, Nesaquake, Patchogue, and Rechquaakie.

The pre-colonial Montaukett manufactured wampompeag (or wampum) from quahog clamshells available on Long Island. Before the Montaukett obtained metal awls from the Europeans, the Montaukett artisans would make "disk-shaped beads from quahog shells ... used for trade and for tribute payments" with the nearby tribes. The Montaukett farmed, fished, hunted, and gathered food. The colonial Montaukett participated in the new European economic and cultural systems by using their traditional skills: hunting to provide game and fowl for colonists' tables; woodworking to make bowls, scrubs, tools, toys, and later, houses and mills; craftwork to make baskets, eel pots, and rush and cane bottoms for chairs. The "women would harvest corn, squash, and beans." While the men fished and hunted whales, by using their dugout canoes, made by hollowing out large trees. They also participated in the economy by purchasing their guns and sometimes furniture from the local colonial craftsmen. The Montauketts skilled at whaling were eagerly sought after by those engaged in the trade. Between 1677 and 1684, a documented system of credit allowed indigenous men (and their families) to purchase goods from local merchants and traders, in exchange for their share (or “lay”) of the catch during the following whaling season. Eventually, the in-shore whaling operations over-fished the local seas, and Indigenous labor from the Montauketts and other Native American groups was vital to deep-sea whaling throughout the late eighteenth century. Even both Rev. Horton and Rev. Occum mentioned in their records (as late as ca. 1740–1760) that Montaukett men were working at sea during their visits.

In 1524, Giovanni Verrazano explored and mapped the area. It is unclear whether these specific expeditions had any contact with the Montauk tribe.^{[citation needed]}