The Wappinger were Eastern Algonquian, Munsee-speaking Native Americans from southern New York and western Connecticut. Their primary base was Dutchess County, NY, extending south to include parts of Putnam, Westchester counties, the western Bronx, and northern Manhattan Island. Eastward, their territory reached the Connecticut River Valley, with the Roeliff Jansen Kill marking their northern boundary in Columbia County. Population estimates at first European contact in 1609 ranged between 3,000 and 13,200 individuals. They spoke a Munsee dialect closely related to Lenape languages, classified within Eastern Algonquian linguistic groups. Henry Hudson's Half Moon expedition in 1609 represented first recorded European contact. Officer Robert Juet documented encounters where Native peoples traded tobacco for knives and beads, wearing deer skins and displaying copper items. The Wappinger comprised approximately 18 loosely associated bands with established geographic territories. Scholar Ives Goddard contests the idea of a formal confederacy, noting that "no evidence supports this idea." The bands included: Kitchawank: Northern Westchester County (Croton-on-Hudson area), with a fortified village called Navish at Croton Point's neck. The Kitchawank were the Wappinger band most closely associated with the Croton area. They signed the 1645 peace treaty ending Kieft's War, and their shell middens at Croton Point date back 7,000 years. Wecquaesgeek: Southwestern Westchester/western Bronx, centered on the Saeck Kill (Saw Mill River) mouth in present-day Yonkers, extending to northern Manhattan and south to Tarrytown. Siwanoy: Southeast Bronx coastal areas and southern Westchester into Fairfield County, Connecticut. Sintsink: Around present-day Ossining (originally "Sing Sing," derived from their name). Nochpeem: Highland area of eastern Putnam County. Tankiteke: Northern Westchester and southern Putnam into western Fairfield County, Connecticut. Hammonasset: Eastern group at Connecticut River mouth. Quinnipiac: Central New Haven County, Connecticut. Paugussett: Housatonic River area, Connecticut. Massaco: Farmington River, Connecticut. Wangunk/Mattabesset: Central Connecticut, originally near Hartford/Wethersfield. Podunk, Tunxis, Poquonock, Sicaog: Various bands in Connecticut. The Pavonia massacre of February 25, 1643 triggered Kieft's War, with united Wappinger bands attacking Dutch settlements throughout New Netherland. Dutch retaliation came through the Pound Ridge Massacre of March 1644, killing 500-700 Wappinger, many burned alive. By August 1645, a Dutch-Mohawk alliance defeated the confederation, with over 1,500 Wappinger killed during two years of warfare. The Kitchawank were among the signatory tribes to the 1645 peace treaty, signed at Croton Point. The 1655 Peach War resulted in approximately 100 settler and 60 Wappinger deaths. Following this conflict, the confederation fractured, with surviving Wappinger relocating to "prayer town" Stockbridge, Massachusetts — a Christian conversion settlement. In 1765, remaining Dutchess County Wappinger sued the Philipse family over land patent rights but lost. Daniel Nimham (c. 1726-1778), the last sachem, traveled to London in 1766 as part of a delegation petitioning the British Crown for land restoration. The Lords of Trade acknowledged "frauds and abuses of Indian lands" but took no restorative action. Nimham served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. At the Battle of Kingsbridge (August 31, 1778) in present-day Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, Nimham, his son Abraham, and approximately forty warriors were killed while serving in the Stockbridge Militia — "an irrevocable blow to the tribe." Following the Revolution, remaining Mohican-Wappinger communities in Stockbridge relocated westward to join the Oneida in New York, merging with Munsee remnants to form the Stockbridge-Munsee tribe. They were subsequently relocated to a Wisconsin reservation in Shawano County, where the federally recognized Stockbridge-Munsee Nation continues today. The Wappinger cultivated maize, beans, and squash, while hunting game, fishing, collecting shellfish, and gathering fruits, seeds, roots, and nuts. They maintained seasonal camps near fresh water. Their totem was the "enchanted wolf" with right paw raised defiantly. The name's origin remains debated. Anthropologist Ives Goddard suggests connection to Munsee word "wápinkw" (opossum). An alternative etymology proposes Dutch "wapendragers" (weapon-bearers). Geographic namesakes include the Town of Wappinger, Village of Wappingers Falls, Wappinger Creek, and Wappinger Trail in Briarcliff Manor. Broadway in New York City follows an ancient Wappinger trail route.