At the time of European contact, East Hampton was home to the Pequot people, part of the culture that also occupied territory on the northern side of Long Island Sound, in what is now Connecticut of southern New England.

Wyandanch's elder brother, the grand sachem Poggaticut, sold an island to English colonist Lion Gardiner for "a large black dog, some powder and shot, and a few Dutch blankets.

"[6] The next trade involved the land extending from present-day Southampton to the foot of the bluffs, at what is now Hither Hills State Park, for 24 hatchets, 24 coats, 20 looking glasses and 100 muxes.

[6] In 1660, Chief Wyandanch's widow signed away the rest of the land from present-day Hither Hills to the tip of Montauk Point for 100 pounds, to be paid in 10 equal installments of "Indian corn or good wampum at six to a penny".

[7] The sales provided that the Montaukett were permitted to stay on the land, to hunt and fish at will, and to harvest the tails and fins of whales that beached on the East Hampton shores.

[6] Many of the Montaukett died during the 17th and 18th centuries from epidemics of smallpox, a Eurasian disease carried by some English and Dutch colonists and endemic in their communities, to which the Indians had no immunity.

After the American Revolution, some Montaukett relocated with Shinnecock to Oneida County in western upstate New York, led by the Mohegan missionary Samson Occom, to try to escape the settlers' civilization.

When Arthur W. Benson brought a government auction of Montauk, New York, in which he bought nearly the entire east end of the town, he evicted the Montaukett.

Isaac Van Scoy from Amagansett wed Mercy Edwards in February 1757, and during the spring of that year, the couple relocated to the region referred to as Northwest or Alewife Brook Neck, located approximately six miles north of East Hampton Village.

Jacqueline's aunt and uncle, Winifred Lee and Franklin d'Olier, continued to own the Lily Pond Lane home of her maternal grandparents until 2002.

In 1998 and 1999 as talk surfaced that Hillary Clinton was considering a Senate run from New York, they began summering in East Hampton, where they stayed at the Georgica Pond home of Steven Spielberg.

In June 2008, at the conclusion of Hillary Clinton's Presidential bid, she stayed at the Wiborg Beach home of Thomas H. Lee in East Hampton Village.

On August 26, 1839, crew from La Amistad, an illegal slave ship that had been commandeered by its captives off Cuba, dropped anchor at Culloden Point and came ashore at Montauk to get supplies.

The court decided in their favor, opining that the initial capture of the Mende by the Spanish was illegal, so they were classified as free men defending their freedom and were not charged under slave law with mutiny or revolt.

More than one hundred miles from Manhattan, East Hampton remained largely undeveloped until 1880 when Austin Corbin extended the Long Island Rail Road from Bridgehampton to Montauk.

[25] The parties saw a broad range of social and cultural elites socialising together as "veteran celebrities mixed with of-the-moment stars and the high-society set at gatherings that often had civic-minded causes" according to the New York Times.

[26] East Hampton's reputation as an artists' colony began with painter Jackson Pollock, who resided in Springs, New York in the 1940s and 1950s, with Lee Krasner, at what is now known as the Pollock-Krasner House and Studio.

Among the other artists who popularized East Hampton as an artists' colony were Willem de Kooning, Mark Rothko, Franz Kline, Ian Hornak, Larry Rivers, Alfonso Ossorio, Robert Motherwell, Andy Warhol, John Ferren, Thomas Moran, Louis Schanker, and Charlotte Park as well as art dealers Leo Castelli and Ileana Sonnabend.

Pollock died in 1956 while driving with his mistress, Ruth Kligman, and a friend of hers, on Springs Fireplace Road, after picking them up at the Long Island Railroad station in East Hampton.

Marcia Gay Harden won a 2000 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for portraying Krasner in Pollock, which was shot in East Hampton as the dream project of Ed Harris, who was also nominated for Best Actor.

The arrangements were disrupted in 1637 by the Pequot War which was to solidify English domination of New England and change the balance of power among Native American tribes.

The Montauketts temporarily moved closer to East Hampton village and the English ordered ships in Long Island Sound to sink Narragansett canoes.

He parted ways after his east indian adventures with his quartermaster, Hendrick van der Heul, at Little Northwest Creek, near Sag Harbor in 1699 after dividing up the booty from the voyage.

While the other radars in this category were torn down, the one on Montauk, was saved largely because it served as a better landmark than did the lighthouse for sailors and ships on Long Island Sound.

In 1992, Long Island residents Preston B. Nichols and Peter Moon published a science fiction book, The Montauk Project: Experiments in Time.

[55] In 2006, the Town adopted a dark skies ordinance, which is now being considered as a model for wider use in New York State to cut down on light pollution at night.

In 2006, the Town announced plans to convert its campus by adapting a collection of historic East Hampton buildings that had been moved over the course of 30 years to the 40-acre (160,000 m2) Further Lane home[57] of Adelaide de Menil, heiress to the Schlumberger oil fortune.

The transfer of the historic houses to the Town government site was part of the sale of the de Menil to financier Ron Baron for $103 million; in 2007 this was reported as the highest price ever paid for a single residence in United States history.

One of the highlights of the summer is East Hampton Fire Department fireworks display at Main Beach, usually held the Saturday night closest to July 4.

Past players have included John Irving, Norman Mailer, Kurt Vonnegut, Dustin Hoffman, President Bill Clinton, and singer Paul Simon.