Nanapashemet

Nanapashemet was the great leader of the Massachuset Federation. His domain stretched from the Blue Hills of Massachusetts to the Merrimack River in New Hampshire, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Connecticut River Valley.

French fur-traders in Maine sparked a vicious war between tribes there and Nanapashemet was quickly pressed into defending his allies to the north. At about the same time contact with European traders would spread devastating disease among the Massachuset.

With his people being decimated by disease, Nanapashemet could offer little defense against the relentless attacks by his enemies. The Massachuset were sent fleeing inland.

With few warriors left to defend him, Nanapashemet was eventually killed in his palisade atop what is today Rock Hill in Medford, Massachusetts. Nanapashemet ruled the Massachuset Federation until his death in 1619.


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