Piscataway people
Kinwaw Paskestikweya | |
|---|---|
Three Piscataway tribal leaders representing the Piscataway Indian Nation, Piscataway Conoy Tribe, and Cedarville Band of Piscataway received official recognition as tribes from the State of Maryland in 2012. Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley is 2nd from right. | |
| Total population | |
| est. 4,103 Piscataway Indian Nation 500 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States ( Maryland) | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerly Piscataway | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism, big house religion. | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mattawoman, Patuxent, Doeg, Nanticoke, Yaocomico |
The Piscataway /pɪsˈkætəˌweɪ/ pih-SKAT-ə-WAY or Piscatawa /pɪsˈkætəˌweɪ, ˌpɪskəˈtɑːwə/ pih-SKAT-ə-WAY, PIH-skə-TAH-wə, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They spoke Algonquian Piscataway, a regional dialect similar to Nanticoke. The neighboring Haudenosaunee, called them the Conoy, with whom they partly merged with after a massive decline of population and rise in colonial violence following two centuries of interactions with European settlers.
Two major groups that represent Piscataway descendants received state recognition as Native American tribes from Maryland in 2012: the Piscataway Indian Nation and Piscataway Conoy Tribe. Within the latter group was included the Piscataway Conoy Confederacy and Sub-Tribes and the Cedarville Band of Piscataway Indians.
All these groups descend from the Western Bank of the Chesapeake, spanning across Maryland, Virginia, D.C, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia, and are primarily located in Southern Maryland. None are federally recognized despite over a half-century tribal movement in being recognized as stewards to the United States Capitol Region.