Description
Wawyachtonoc (also rendered Wyachtonok, Wawayachtonoc, and Wyaghtonok) were an Algonquian-speaking Native American people indigenous to east central New York and northwest Connecticut. In 1687, the Wyachtonok,originally subgroup of Paugussett, joined the Mohican Confederacy. The majority of the Wawyachtonoc were converted to Christianity, beginning in 1740, by Moravian missionaries. During this period Wawyachtonoc populations became concentrated at the Moravian missions at Shekomeko and Schaghticoke.
Language
Algonquian
Culture
The villages were governed by hereditary sachems advised by a council of clan elders. They had a matrilineal kinship system, with property and inheritance (including such hereditary offices) passed through the maternal line. The people of the northeast and the southeast of the present-day United States have common origins. The first known inhabitants of both regions were societies that built huge earthen mounds, many of which still stand today. Groups within the region would trade food and commodities with other Northeastern peoples, depending on their area’s goods.