Narragansett Indian Tribe & People:
The Narragansett are the Indigenous people of what is now Rhode Island. Oral histories affirm a presence since time immemorial, and European records begin in 1524 with Verrazzano’s visit to Narragansett Bay. Before colonization, Narragansett communities farmed, fished, hunted, and moved seasonally between inland longhouses and coastal wigwams. They were a leading regional power that offered protection to neighboring groups. The seventeenth century brought upheaval through shifting alliances, the Pequot War, and the devastation of King Philip’s War, including the Great Swamp Massacre. Despite dispossession and dispersion, the people sustained community, ceremony, and governance.
Today, the Narragansett Indian Tribe is the only federally recognized tribe in Rhode Island. Headquartered in Charlestown, the Tribe governs through a Chief Sachem and an elected Tribal Council, with major decisions approved by the full body. The community regained portions of land in the late twentieth century and continues to steward homelands while working within complex state and federal frameworks, including the 2009 Supreme Court decision in Carcieri v. Salazar, which limits the creation of new trust lands. Culture remains vibrant. The August Meeting Powwow, documented since the 1670s, is among the oldest recorded powwows in North America. The Longhouse anchors gatherings and programs, and language revitalization builds on early records of the Algonquian Narragansett tongue. Through advocacy, education, arts, and ceremony, the Narragansett people honor their relationship to the Great Spirit and to the bays, rivers, and forests that have always been their home.