Editing Mashpee, Massachusetts (section)

=== 17th century ===
After English colonists arrived, they began to settle the area of present-day Mashpee in 1658 with the assistance of the [[missionary]] Richard Bourne, from the neighboring town of [[Sandwich, Massachusetts|Sandwich]]. In 1660 the colonists allowed those Christian Wampanoag who had been converted about {{convert|50|sqmi|km2}} in the English settlement. Beginning in 1665, the Wampanoag governed themselves with a court of law and trials according to English custom (they had long governed themselves according to their own customs).

[[File:Old Indian Meetinghouse.jpg|thumb|left|The "[[Old Indian Meeting House]]", built in 1684 at Mashpee, is the oldest Native American church in the United States.]]
Following their defeat in [[King Philip's War]] (1675–1676), the Wampanoag of the mainland were resettled with the [[Sakonnet]] in present-day [[Rhode Island]]. Others of the people were brought, together with the [[Nauset]], into the [[praying town]]s, such as Mashpee, in [[Barnstable County, Massachusetts|Barnstable County]]. There were also Wampanoag on Martha's Vineyard and other areas.

The colonists designated Mashpee on Cape Cod as the largest [[Indian reservation]] in Massachusetts. The town's name is an Anglicization of a native name, ''mass-nippe'': ''mass'' is "great", or "greater" (see ''Massa''chusetts), and ''nippe'' is "water". The name has been translated as "the greater cove" or "great pond," or "land near great cove", where the water being referenced is [[Wakeby Pond]], which is greater at one end.