Editing Cambridge, Massachusetts (section)

===Pre-colonization===
The [[Massachusett]] inhabited the area that is now called Cambridge for thousands of years prior to [[European colonization of the Americas]], most recently under the name ''Anmoughcawgen'', which means 'fishing weir' or 'beaver dam' in [[Massachusett language|Natick]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=You live in Anmoughcawgen |url=https://historycambridge.org/articles/you-live-in-anmoughcawgen/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=History Cambridge |language=en-US}}</ref> At the time of European contact, the area was inhabited by [[Naumkeag people|Naumkeag]] or [[Pawtucket tribe|Pawtucket]] to the north and [[Massachusett]] to the south, and may have been inhabited by other groups such as the Totant, not well described in later European narratives.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Smith|first=John|url=https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100693021|title=A description of New England; or, The observations, and discoveries of Captain Iohn Smith (admirall of that country) in the north of America, in the year of our Lord 1614; with the successe of sixe ships, that went the next yeare 1615; and the accidents befell him among the French men of warre: with the proofe of the present benefit this countrey affoords; whither this present yeare, 1616, eight voluntary ships are gone to make further tryall.|date=1837|publisher=P. Force|location=Washington|access-date=December 7, 2021|archive-date=February 15, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230215200851/https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100693021|url-status=live}}</ref> The contact period introduced a number of European infectious diseases which would decimate native populations in [[virgin soil epidemic]]s, leaving the area uncontested upon the arrival of large groups of English settlers in 1630.