Aquinnah (/əˈkwɪnə/ uh-KWIN-uh; Wampanoag: Âhqunah[1]) is a town located on the western end of Martha's Vineyard island, Massachusetts, United States.

[2] Aquinnah is known for its beautiful clay cliffs and natural serenity, as well as its historical importance to the native Wampanoag people.

They comprise approximately one-third of the town's voters and are one of two federally recognized tribes of Wampanoag people in Massachusetts.

Before the arrival of English colonists, Martha's Vineyard and Aquinnah were inhabited by the Wampanoag, a Native American people, related to the larger Algonquin Nation of Southern New England.

Based on archeological testing, scientists estimate the earliest signs of human occupation in what is now Aquinnah date back 10,000 to 7,500 years.

[4] The Wampanoag have a separate history; their creation myth tells that their ancestors reached the island after traveling on an ice floe from the far North.

The people gained federal recognition as the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head in 1987 and controls sovereign tribal lands within the town boundaries.

In 2015, erosion at the town's western end led to a $3.5 million, 129 feet (39 m) move of its prominent, red brick Gay Head Light.

[11] In February 2019, the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head announced it will begin construction of the Aquinnah Cliffs Casino in March 2019.

Visitors to the island use commercial planes serving Martha's Vineyard Airport, located in nearby West Tisbury, while others travel by car and ferry.

At the foot of the cliffs is Moshup's Beach, named after a great Aquinnah Wampanoag sachem who is said to have been at least partially responsible for many of the features of the island's physical landscape.

Aside from Aquinnah's famed clay cliffs, the landscape is noted for its rolling terrain, coastal heathlands, deciduous woods, high sand dunes and beach roses.

Aquinnah's geography also lends itself to outdoor activities including surf fishing at Lobsterville Beach and Dog Fish Bar, surfing off the beaches of Moshup Trail, and jogging and cycling the State Road and Moshup Trail loop.

Even so, it still faces the challenge of coastal erosion like the rest of Martha's Vineyard, Chappaquiddick, and nearby Nantucket.

Dunes are fortified with healthy grasses but the southwestern shoreline has faced an annual reduction in its beaches for decades.

The cliffs have also faced higher and stronger seas, leading to a 129 foot inland move of the Gay Head Lighthouse[14] in 2015.

In 2001, Aquinnah passed a bylaw requiring archaeological reviews of proposed building sites due to the 10 millennia of Wampanoag history in the town.

Martha's Vineyard Regional High School, located in Oak Bluffs, serves the entire island's high–school population.