Description
While the history of the Paugusset people began long before the European encounter, the early written records are European accounts. Historically, the Paugussett occupied a region from present-day Norwalk to West Haven, and from Long Island Sound inland for as far as they could navigate by canoe on the Housatonic and Naugatuck rivers. The tribe was made up of four primary sub-groups, the Paugussett Proper in what is present-day Milford, Derby and Shelton; the Pequonnock, along the coast; the Potatuck in Newtown, Woodbury and Southbury; and the Weantinock in New Milford.
Language
Their language, called Quiripi by lexicographers, was one of numerous Eastern Algonquian tongues
Culture
They had a farming and fishing culture. The women cultivated varieties of staple crops: corn, beans, and squash, and tobacco, which was used for ritual purposes. The men fished in both fresh and salt water. The size of midden shell heaps along the coast and the amount of cleared land attested to both a long period of occupation and a high degree of social organization among the people. While the Paugusset did not have early direct contact with Europeans, they came in contact with other Native Americans who did, and were exposed to the smallpox epidemic in 1633–35, which caused many deaths.