Mashpee (/ˈmæʃpi/ Wampanoag: Mâseepee[1]) is a town in Barnstable County, Massachusetts, United States, on Cape Cod.

The historic Algonquian-speaking Wampanoag were the native people encountered by the English colonists here and in the area of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in the seventeenth century.

After English colonists arrived, they began to settle the area of present-day Mashpee in 1658 with the assistance of the missionary Richard Bourne, from the neighboring town of Sandwich.

Following their defeat in King Philip's War (1675–1676), the Wampanoag of the mainland were resettled with the Sakonnet in present-day Rhode Island.

The colonists designated Mashpee on Cape Cod as the largest Indian reservation in Massachusetts.

Following the American Revolutionary War, the town in 1788 revoked Mashpee self-government, which European-American officials considered a failure.

William Apess, a Pequot Methodist preacher, helped the Mashpee Wampanoag lead a peaceful protest of this action, and the governor threatened a military response.

With the idea that emulating European-American farming would encourage assimilation, in 1842 the state broke up some of the Wampanoag communal land.

It distributed 2,000 acres (8.1 km2) of their 13,000-acre (53 km2) property in allotments of 60-acre (240,000 m2) parcels to heads of households, so that each family could have individual ownership for subsistence farming.

It was a large region, once rich in wood, fish and game, and desired by white settlers, who envied the growing community of Mashpee.

[3] In 1870 the state approved the incorporation of Mashpee as a town, the second-to-last jurisdiction on the Cape to undergo the process.

While they ultimately did not win their case, the Mashpee continued to develop as an organized community and gained federal recognition as a tribe in 2007.

As the town attracts numerous summer visitors, there are many seasonal businesses and service jobs to support this tourism.

In 2015 the Department of Interior evaluated taking into trust 170 acres (0.69 km2) in Mashpee as a reservation for the Wampanoag, who already controlled the land, however in 2018 the request was ultimately rejected.

[5][4] That action was challenged in October 2016 by a United States District Court decision, reached after a suit was filed earlier that year by opponents to Mashpee Wampanoag's plans to build a gaming casino on their Taunton land.

It is bounded by Sandwich to the north and northwest, Barnstable to the east, Nantucket Sound to the south, and Falmouth to the west.

Like all towns on the Cape, Mashpee's topography is that of sandy soil, small ponds and inlets, surrounded by the pines and oaks indigenous to the area.

The town contains South Cape Beach State Park along Dead Neck and Waquoit Bay, and the Lowell Holly Reservation, comprising the land between Wakeby and Mashpee Ponds.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the plant hardiness zone is 7a, with an average annual extreme minimum air temperature of 0.9 °F (−17.3 °C).

Rail Transportation, Joint Base Cape Cod has a railroad track extending into the town.

[24] On the national level, Mashpee is a part of Massachusetts's 9th congressional district, and is currently represented by Bill Keating.

Mashpee's athletics teams are named the Falcons, and their colors are royal blue, white, and black.

From 1999 to 2003 Mashpee played Sandwich High School in an annual Thanksgiving football game rivalry.