Wangunk (Mattabessett)

The Wangunk or Wongunk are an Indigenous people from central Connecticut.

They originally have three major settlements in the areas of the present-day towns of Portland, Middletown, and Wethersfield, also using lands in other parts of what are later organized by English settlers as Middlesex and Hartford counties.[

Some sources call the Wangunk the Mattabessett, or Mattabesch, but Wangunk is the name used by scholars and by contemporary Wangunk descendants.

Prior to European contact, the Wangunk are part of the large Algonquian language family and have strong connections with other of the many Algonquian nations, whose territory is along the Atlantic coast and rivers leading to the sea.

The Wangunk descendants are not recognized today as a tribe by either the US federal government or by the State of Connecticut.

However, there are contemporary Wangunk individuals who strive to carry on their kinship ties and cultural traditions.

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