[5] The meaning of the term is uncertain, although according to the Encyclopædia Britannica it may have meant "far away island" or "sandy, sterile soil tempting no one".

[8][9] The earliest European settlement in the region was established on the neighboring island of Martha's Vineyard by the English-born merchant Thomas Mayhew.

Mayhew led several families to settle the region, establishing several treaties with the indigenous inhabitants of Nantucket, the Wampanoag people.

The growing population of settlers welcomed seasonal groups of other Native American tribes who traveled to the island to fish and later harvest whales that washed up on shore.

Nantucket was officially part of Dukes County, New York, until October 17, 1691, when the charter for the newly formed Province of Massachusetts Bay was signed.

[10] European settlement of Nantucket did not begin in earnest until 1659, when Thomas Mayhew sold nine-tenths of his interest to a group of investors, led by Tristram Coffin, "for the sum of thirty pounds (equal to £5,363 today) also two beaver hats, one for myself, and one for my wife".

The original purchasers needed the assistance of tradesmen who were skilled in the arts of weaving, milling, building and other pursuits and selected men who were given half a share provided that they lived on Nantucket and carried on their trade for at least three years.

At that time, the pond was a small harbor whose entrance silted up, forcing the settlers to dismantle their houses and move them northeast by two miles to the present location.

[18] When the English settlers arrived on Nantucket in 1659, the island was populated by Wampanoag Native Americans, one of the Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who had been living there for thousands of years.

[19]: 17, 21  Within two years of their arrival, the settlers had persuaded two of the sachems, Wanackmamack and Nickanoose, to relinquish their rights to the island in exchange for 66 pounds sterling, equal to £11,798 today).

[19]: 26-7  In 1750 the deeds were upheld by a judge from the General Court of Massachusetts in spite of petitions from the Wampanoags claiming that the sachems had not had the authority to sell the land.

[19]: 44-6  By the 18th century, a system of debt servitude was set in place which provided the English settlers with steady access to a pool of Wampanoag labor.

Various factors contributed to this decline, including the destruction of the ecosystem that had sustained them, the disadvantages they faced in competing in the developing money economy, losses at sea, and the detrimental effect of rum on their health.

[19]: 52-4  Two children, Abram Quary and Dorcas Esop, who were born after the epidemic and lived until 1854 and 1855, have been acknowledged as Nantucket's last Native Americans.

[21] In his 1835 history of Nantucket Island, Obed Macy wrote that in the early pre-1672 colony, a whale of the kind called "scragg" entered the harbor and was pursued and killed by the settlers.

"[15] Nantucket's dependence on trade with Britain, derived from its whaling and supporting industries, influenced its leading citizens to remain neutral during the American Revolutionary War, favoring neither the British nor the Patriots.

Isolation from the mainland kept many of the pre-Civil War buildings intact and, by the 1950s, enterprising developers began buying up large sections of the island and restoring them to create an upmarket destination for wealthy people in the Northeastern United States.

[32] Nantucket was formed by the outermost reach of the Laurentide Ice Sheet during the recent Wisconsin Glaciation, shaped by the subsequent rise in sea level.

The southern part of the island is an outwash plain, sloping away from the arc of the moraine and shaped at its margins by the sorting actions and transport of longshore drift.

Nantucket became an island when rising sea levels covered the connection with the mainland, about 5,000–6,000 years ago.

Key localities on the island include Madaket, Surfside, Polpis, Wauwinet, Miacomet, and Siasconset (generally shortened to "'Sconset").

[37] Nantucket's climate is heavily influenced by the Atlantic Ocean, which helps moderate temperatures in the town throughout the course of the year.

Similar to many other cities with an oceanic climate, Nantucket features a large number of cloudy or overcast days, particularly outside the summer months.

[48] By Hispanic origins of any race, Salvadoran (1,143), Dominican (501), Mexican (124), Guatemalan (63), Spanish (46), Puerto Rican (41), Spaniard (34) and Colombian (32).

Noted artists who have lived on or painted in Nantucket include Frank Swift Chase and Theodore Robinson.

Illustrator and puppeteer Tony Sarg moved to the island in 1922, and in 1937 created an inflatable creature which sailed across the harbour as part of the "sea monster" hoax.

[78] A task force was formed in 2002 to consider limiting the number of vehicles on the island, in an effort to combat heavy traffic during the summer months.

Nantucket Regional Transit Authority operates seasonal island-wide shuttle buses to many destinations including Surfside Beach, Siasconset, and the airport.

Nantucket waters were the site of several noted transportation disasters: The following Nantucket places are listed on the National Register of Historic Places:[81] While many notable people own property or regularly visit the island, the following have been residents of the island: • - Beaune, Côte d’Or, France