Piscataway Nation

The Piscataway Indian Nation is a group of indigenous people who have lived in the Chesapeake Bay region of what is now Maryland and Virginia in the United States for thousands of years. The Piscataway people were part of the larger Powhatan Confederacy, which also included the Pamunkey and Mattaponi tribes. They were skilled farmers and fishermen, and lived in small villages along the Potomac and Patuxent Rivers.

During the early colonial period, the Piscataway had contact with English settlers, but relations between the two groups were generally peaceful. However, as the number of English settlers in the region increased, the Piscataway began to lose control of their lands and resources. Many Piscataway people were forced to move west or assimilate into white society.

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Piscataway people faced a further loss of land and rights as the US government passed laws and implemented policies aimed at assimilating indigenous peoples. This included the forced removal of Native American children from their families and communities to attend boarding schools, where they were forced to adopt European-American customs and ways of life.

Despite the significant challenges and losses they have faced, the Piscataway Indian Nation has not disappeared. The tribe continues to exist today and has been formally recognized by the State of Maryland. The Piscataway people are working to preserve their culture, language, and traditions and to gain federal recognition as a sovereign nation.