Ozinie

Last updated
Ozinie
Wicomiss
Total population
Extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
Maryland
Languages
Eastern Algonquian
Religion
Native American religion
Related ethnic groups
Nanticoke

The Ozinie, also known as the Wicomiss, [1] were a group of Native Americans living near modern-day Rock Hall, in Kent County, Maryland. [2] They were hunter-gatherers and fished. [1]

Contents

Territory

They lived in a village near Chester River that flowed in the Chesapeake Bay. [1] They used Eastern Neck Island for shellfishing. [1]

Population

They had an estimated population of 255 people. [2]

Language

The Ozinie spoke an Algonquian language and were related to the Nanticoke, [3] another Algonquian-speaking tribe,

17th-century history

Captain John Smith encountered the Ozinie in 1608. [3] By 1631, William Claiborne, a British colonist in Virginia, maintained a lucrative fur trade with the local tribes. The Ozinies and the Nanticokes fought against the English colonists who encroached upon their lands. [4] By the mid-17th century, the Ozinie, Matapeakes, and Mononposons disappeared from the historical record. [1] The Ozinie assimilated with the neighboring Nanticokes by the 1660s. [3] [2]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 William B. Cronin, The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake, p. 41.
  2. 1 2 3 "Maryland at a Glance: Native Americans". Maryland Manual On-Line. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
  3. 1 2 3 "Eastern Neck National Wildlife Refuge". U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service. Retrieved 7 April 2023.
  4. William B. Cronin, The Disappearing Islands of the Chesapeake, p. 42.

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