jameco native americans?

Answer 1

The Metoac

The Metoac had the misfortune to occupy Long Island which was regarded as the source of the best wampum in the Northeast. Each summer from the waters of Long Island Sound the Metoac harvested clam shells which, during the winter, were painstakingly fashioned into small beads they called "wampompeag" - shortened later by the English into the more familiar form "wampum." To the Dutch traders, it was siwan (sewan). The Metoac traded this to other tribes (most notably the Mahican) and prospered as a result.

Population

The population of all of the Metoac tribes in 1600 was probably somewhere around 10,000, but the combined effects of warfare and epidemic during the next 60 years were devastating. By 1659 less than 500 Metoac remained on Long Island. By 1788 their number had fallen to 162, and the 1910 census listed 167 Shinnecock, 29 Montauk, and one Poosepatuck. Currently, there are two reservations on Long Island: the Shinnecock with nearly 400 residents; and the 200 Unkechaug at the Poospatock Reserve. Besides those on the reservations, there are more than 1,400 Metoac living in the immediate area. Although the State of New York attempted to close the reservations during the 1930s, state recognition of the Shinnecock and Unkechaug dates from the colonial period. However, since they have not signed treaties with the United States, neither tribe is federally recognized.

Names

Spread across an island more than 120 miles in length, the Metoac apparently did not have a collective name for themselves. Jameco has been used upon occasion, as well as Manhattan meaning "island people." Other tribes sometimes referred to them as Sewanakie meaning "salt water people," but in most cases this was an Algonquin name for Europeans, especially the Dutch. The Metoac are frequently called the Montauk, the name of the largest tribe.