Here First: Samoset and the Wawenock of Pemaquid, Maine

On March 16, 1621, Samoset, a sagamore of the Wawenock, cemented his place in history. He was the first Indigenous person to make contact with the colonists at Plymouth Plantation, startling them when he emerged from the forest and welcomed them in English. The extraordinary thing about Samoset’s story is that he was not from Plymouth. He was not even Wampanoag, or Patuxet, who lived in the area. Samoset’s home was more than 200 miles away on the coast of present-day Maine. Why was he there...