Massasoit
Massasoit (1580?–1661), a chief of the Wampanoag Indians. At the time of the Pilgrim landing, 1620, the Wampanoags lived between Narragansett Bay and Cape Cod. Massasoit met with the Pilgrims at Plymouth on March 22, 1621, and made a treaty of peace and friendship, which he never broke. He attended their first Thanksgiving in late 1621.
Massasoit was grateful when a Pilgrim cured him of a serious illness in 1623. He ceded large tracts of land, in return for weapons, rum, and trade goods. Massasoit allowed the Pilgrims to convert Wampanoags to Christianity, although he retained his old beliefs. After Massasoit's death, his son Metacomet, called King Philip, fought King Philip's War (1675–76) against the colonists.