Agawam people

The Agawam were an Algonquian Native American people inhabiting the coast of New England encountered by English colonists who arrived in the early 17th century.

At the time of English colonization in the 1600s, the Agawam inhabited the area from Cape Ann inland to the edge of present-day North Andover to Middleton, and from there to the Danvers River, which was the border with the Naumkeag tribe (near where Salem, Massachusetts developed).

"[6] These natives did participate in King Philip's War, causing some loss of life among the colonials with whom they had formerly resided in peace.

In 1605, Samuel de Champlain encountered and interacted with native people inhabiting Cape Ann during his summer voyage down the North Atlantic coast.

[7] Though the language of Cape Ann was not intelligible to the native guides the French explorers brought on their voyage from farther north along the coast, the inhabitants of Cape Ann used birch bark canoes like other groups farther to the north, differentiating them from peoples immediately to the south who used dugout canoes.

[4] In February 1637, sachem Masconomet deeded a tract of land to John Winthrop the Younger in present day Ipswich (at that time known as Agawam) for his family to farm.

Each Algonquian language marks the range of a sovereign state, or tribe, ruled by a hereditary sachem, or chief.