Indigenous Knowledge Systems Initiative Working Map

The interpretive Envision Resilience IKSI map highlights tribal territories of the Wampanoag, Nauset, Tommokomoth, Narragansett, Pokanoket and
other Algonquian-speaking peoples, overlapping with the Envision Resilience Challenge sites of 2021, 2022, and 2023. 

The working map, launched in May of 2024, is a living drawing meant to expand with the additional Challenge sites’ Indigenous and colonial knowledge. 

IKSI Tribal Land Acknowledgement Working Map Explanation

Intergenerational oral history and knowledge transfer through experience are a few sources utilized within Indigenous communities.

The earliest available written public documents, scaled surveys, and maps regarding Indigenous territory and history of the area were conducted by non-Indigenous people. These and the earliest written public resources recognized as credible from an academic western perspective, were referenced to create the map.

As historic traditions vary from tribe to tribe, the map is not an authoritative document and does not reflect modern day land base. To get familiar with tribes in the locale, see the “Tribal Land Acknowledgement Sources” section of the Working Syllabus.

The interpretive Envision Resilience IKSI map highlights tribal territories of the Wampanoag, Nauset, Tommokomoth, Narragansett, Pokanoket and other Algonquian-speaking peoples, overlapping with the Envision Resilience Challenge sites of 2021, 2022 and 2023. The map includes the land base of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and the Challenge sites of Nantucket, Narragansett Bay and New Bedford and Fair Haven. 

The left side of the map contextualizes the select tribal territory within a network of Indigenous settlements and trails, dated from 1600 - 1650, and ecological data from 2023, across lands now known as Massachusetts and Rhode Island. 

Each Challenge Site is uniquely presented with two sets of maps focusing on both Indigenous and colonial spatial knowledge of the site respectively. Varying types of information are included such as historic tribal boundaries, leadership signatures from historical documents, place names, ecological details and animal migratory patterns.

 

Envision Resilience Challenge 2021

Nantucket, the first Envision Resilience Challenge site of 2021, included Brant Point, Washington Street, and Downtown. Nantucket is the traditional territory of the Wampanoag, Nauset, Tommokomot and other Algonquian-speaking peoples.

The layered information on the “Indigenous Living on Nantucket” drawing stems from the findings of anthropologist Dr. Elizabeth A. Little. The map shows territory boundaries, locations of significant historical sites, various types of houses, seasonal occupation patterns, and locations of structures related to whaling. Sachem names and their respective territory are outlined across the island. The “marks” of Sachem Nanahuma, Sachem Wanachmamak, and Sachem Nickanoose as seen in various historic deeds outlined in Nantucket Algonquin Studies #3: The Writings of Nantucket Indians by Dr. Elizabeth A. Little are shown. 

“English Spatial Living of the 19th Century” on Nantucket shows early land boundaries, town grid, houses, and road and water circulation patterns based on an 1838 survey created by William Mitchell. The Town of Nantucket, Siasconset, and the surrounding area of Polpis Harbour were the primary land areas of growth during this time period. 

Envision Resilience Challenge 2022

Narragansett Bay, the site of the second Envision Resilience Challenge in 2022, included Wickford, North Kingston, Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Newport and Providence of Rhode Island. This Challenge site is the traditional territory of the Wampanoag, Narragansett, Pokanoket and other Algonquian-speaking peoples.

The Indigenous spatial living drawing shows names of places and bodies of water, in their original language, of Narragansett and Mount Hope Bay. Information was based on the “Map of Indian Localities About Narragansett and Mount Hope Bays” by Thomas W. Bicknell and drawn by E.W.Ross in February of 1908. 

“The map includes that portion of Pokanoket between Tauntoo River on the east, Sowams of Narragansett Bay on the south, and the Pawtucket or Providence River on the west. Sowams included the three necks of land known by the Indians by the name of Chachaeust, Popanomscut, and Wannamoisett as far north as the Indian territory known as Seekonk. The water bounds of Sowams were the eastern branch of Sowame River (now Warren) on the east, Sowams of Narragansett Bay on the south, and Sowams Bay and Providence River on the west.”

Map of Indian Localities About Narragansett and Mount Hope Bays by Thomas W. Bicknell
Drawn by E.W.Ross, Civil Engineer 
Providence, RI
February 1908

Montaup, or Mount Hope, is where Metacomet’s or King Philip’s primary village was located. Metacomet was a sachem and leader of a confederation of Wampanoag and Narraganset peoples. In 1675, he led one of the most successful wars against colonial rule in New England bringing together a coalition of Wampanoag, Narraganset, Abenaki, Nipmuc and Mohawk peoples. After a year, food became a scarce resource and the tribal alliance was weakened. Toward the end of the war, Metacomet returned to his village in Mount Hope where he was killed by an informant led by Captain Benjamin Church. Metacomet was beheaded and his body was quartered. One of his hands was sent to Boston and one was sent to England, while his head was displayed on a pole in Plymouth for 25 years. King Philip’s war ended with 3,000 Indians and 600 colonists killed. A stone in Bristol, Rhode Island marks his place of death reading “In the miery swamp 100 ft S.W.S from this spring, according to tradition, King Philip fell August 12, 1676”. 

Wickford, North Kingston, Barrington, Warren, Bristol, Newport, and Providence of Rhode Island are shown in the year 1776. Early colonial place and bodies of water names, colonial buildings, and spatial patterns of living, circulation, and town incorporation are shown based on a survey decreed by the Lords of Trade and published at the request of Lord Viscount Howe on July 20th 1776.

Envision Resilience Challenge 2023

New Bedford and Fair Haven, the site of the third Envision Resilience Challenge in 2023, included the Port of New Bedford, North End, South End and Fair Haven of Massachusetts. This Challenge site is the traditional territory of the Wampanoag, Pokanoket, and other Algonquian-speaking peoples.

In celebration of the extensive relationship with whales in New Bedford and the greater region, the spatial patterns of the North Atlantic right whales are shown including their seasonal feeding grounds, calving grounds, and sightings in 2023. 

Right whales include four species of stout-bodied whales with heads measuring one-quarter or one-third of their total body length. These whales were hunted extensively from the 17th to the 19th century for their oil and the filter-feeding system inside their mouths known as baleen. In the 1850s, New Bedford was known as the whaling capital of the world with more whaling voyages sailed from the port than from all of the world's ports combined. 

Indigenous whaling customs and political rights are detailed in the earliest deeds or regulations, for eastern Long Island, Rhode Island, Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Cape Cod Bay. This indicates the importance of whales to Indigenous livelihood, hunting practices, and cultural narratives including stories and songs. 

Indigenous whalemen were recruited by English company owners to hunt whales and at one point in certain regions, had high bargaining power and influence in the industry due to their heightened skills in hunting and navigation, even forming an independent Indigenous whaling company. At one point in time, as Indigenous lands were being encroached on and community populations were shrinking, the sea was thought of as an opportunity for Indigenous sovereignty and a supportive way of living. Though this influence was eventually diminished, Indigenous whalemen’s contributions to the whaling industry is recorded throughout history.   

The Village of New Bedford, the North End, and the South End are shown in the year of 1884. Early colonial place and bodies of water names, colonial buildings, and spatial patterns of living, circulation, and town incorporation are shown based on a survey by J Congdon. The burgeoning town grid is shown alongside the religious, educational, financial and livelihood civic institutions including the public school, the African Christian meeting house, the Methodist Church, the Baptist Meeting House, the Court House, the Market, the Bedford Commercial Bank, the saltworks and more. 

The map of Fairhaven is based on a Sanborn map for the year 1888. Sanborn maps were created in the 19th and 20th centuries to assist fire insurance companies in assessing total liability in urbanized areas of the United States. As shown, Fairhaven had two building types; adobe and brick. Red or brick had the lowest fire hazard while Brown or Adobe had the second highest fire hazard. 

IKSI Drawing Sources:

Intergenerational oral history and knowledge transfer through experience are a few sources utilized within Indigenous communities.

The earliest available written public documents, scaled surveys, and maps regarding Indigenous territory and history of the area were conducted by non-Indigenous people.

Early written public resources, recognized as credible from an academic western perspective, were referenced to create the map.

The mapping tool, Native Land Digital, was referenced in the making of the IKSI map. Native Land Digital is a Canadian not-for-profit organization that manages the mapping project indicating Indigenous lands, languages, and treaties across the globe and allows for Indigenous tribes to provide land affiliations and information today. Native Land Digital’s mission is to strive to map Indigenous lands in a way that changes, challenges, and improves the way people see history and the present day, and to strengthen the “spiritual bonds that people have with the land, its people, and its meaning”. See the mapping tool here: https://native-land.ca/.

As historic traditions vary from tribe to tribe, the map is not an authoritative document and does not reflect modern day land base but rather a moment in time. To get familiar with tribes in the locale, see the “New England and Native America” section and the “Tribal Land Acknowledgement Sources” section of the Working Syllabus.

See the drawing sources below or at the “Envision Resilience Tribal Land Acknowledgement Sources” subheading of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Working Syllabus located here: https://www.envisionresilience.org/iksi-working-syllabus-1.

The information for the drawings are gathered from the sources below:

Douglas-Lithow, R.A. The Nantucket Indians, 1911

Copy of Map of Providence, Walker Lith & Pub Co, c.1915 

A Chart of the Harbour of Rhode Island and Narragansett Bay 
Surveyed in pursuance of Directions
From the Lords of Trade
To His Majesty’s Surveyor General for the Northern Diftrict of North America
Published at the Request of The Right Honourable Lord Viscount Howe by 
J.F.W. Des Barres Esq.
20th July 1776 

Map of Indian Localities About Narragansett and Mount Hope Bays by Thomas W. Bicknell
Drawn by E.W.Ross, Civil Engineer 
Providence, RI
February 1908

North Atlantic Right Whale Territory, https://ocean.si.edu/ocean-life/marine-mammals/north-atlantic-right-whale-territory
(Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History)

Territorial Subdivisions and Boundaries of the Wampanoad, Massachusett, and Nauset Indians - Frank G Speck 

  • Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from New Bedford, Bristol County, Massachusetts (July 1955)

  • Map of Providence, Walker Lith & Pub Co, (c.1915)

  • Map of New Bedford, J. Congdon, Leventhal Map Collection (1834)

  • Map of New Bedford and Fairhaven, Robert G. Ingraham, C.E. Leventhal Map Center (1857)

  • Copy of Historical Map of Nantucket, Ewer, Ferdinand C, Leventhal Map Collection (1869)

  • Narragansett Bay, Royal United States Services Institute (1776)

  • Map of Narragansett Bay Des Barres, Joseph FW (c.1777)

  • Map of the Town of Nantucket in the State of Massachusetts _ William Coffin Jr, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket Map & Legend Collection (1834)

  • Map of the Town of Nantucket in the State of Massachusetts _ William Coffin, courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association, Nantucket Map & Legend Collection (1833)

  • Map of Indian Localities About Narragansett and Mount Hope Bays (1908)

Compilation of Nantucket Algonquian, Archaeological, Ethnohistorical, and Linguistic Studies by Dr. Elizabeth A. Little