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Concept
Mattaponi
Summary
The Mattaponi (pronˌmætəpoʊˈnaɪ) tribe is one of only two Virginia Indian tribes in the Commonwealth of Virginia that owns reservation land, which it has held since the colonial era. The larger Mattaponi Indian Tribe lives in King William County on the reservation, which stretches along the borders of the Mattaponi River, near West Point, Virginia.
The Mattaponi were one of six tribes inherited by Chief Powhatan in the late 16th century. The tribe spoke an Algonquian language, like other members of the Powhatan Chiefdom. The paramount chiefdom of the Powhatan numbered more than 30 tribes by the time the English arrived and settled Jamestown in 1607.
In addition, a Mattaponi band had long been settled outside the reservation at an unincorporated hamlet called Adamstown, located on the upper reaches of the Mattaponi River. This has been identified as Indian land in records dating to the 17th century. In 1921, this Upper Mattaponi Tribe of Adamstown organized as an official group. They have been recognized as a tribe by the Commonwealth of Virginia and own of land in Hanover County. Federal status was granted to the Upper Mattaponi Tribe through the passage of the Thomasina E. Jordan Indian Tribes of Virginia Federal Recognition Act of 2017 on January 12, 2018.
The Mattaponi Indians are classified as a branch of Pamunkey Indians, who are also federally recognized. The Mattaponi and Pamunkey have an identical cultural foundation, and come from the same historic political body.
According to archaeologists, indigenous peoples of successive cultures have been living in the area now called Virginia for as long as 15,000 years. The historic tribes are believed to have formed in the 14th and 15th centuries. The numerous tribes belonged to three language groups: Algonquian along the coast and in the Tidewater, Siouan in the central area and Piedmont, and Iroquoian generally in the backcountry and to the north. The language groups were the basis of shared cultures and identification.
Official source
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