The Sakonnet people are

Native Americans in the United States Native Americans, also known as American Indians, First Americans, Indigenous Americans, and other terms, are the Indigenous peoples of the mainland United States ( Indigenous peoples of Hawaii, Alaska and territories of the United State ...

, related to the

Wampanoag people The Wampanoag , also rendered Wôpanâak, are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands based in southeastern Massachusetts and historically parts of eastern Rhode Island,Salwen, "Indians of Southern New England and Long Island," p. 17 ...

who spoke a dialect of the

Massachusett language The Massachusett language is an Algonquian language of the Algic language family, formerly spoken by several peoples of eastern coastal and southeastern Massachusetts. In its revived form, it is spoken in four communities of Wampanoag people ...

. The tribal name was applied to

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the List of U.S. states by area, smallest U.S. state by area and the List of states and territories of the United States ...

Sakonnet River The Sakonnet River is a tidal strait in the state of Rhode Island which flows approximately 14 miles between Mount Hope Bay and Rhode Island Sound. It separates Aquidneck Island from the eastern portion of Newport County. Crossings Below is ...

, Sakonnet Harbor, and other geographic features.Such as Sakonnet Cove in

Mount Hope Bay Mount Hope Bay is a tidal estuary located at the mouth of the Taunton River on the Massachusetts and Rhode Island border. It is an arm of Narragansett Bay. The bay is named after Mount Hope (Rhode Island), Mount Hope, a small hill located on its ...

, Sakonnet Point, and much later to

Sakonnet Light Sakonnet Light, built in 1884, is a sparkplug lighthouse near Sakonnet Point, Little Compton, Rhode Island, on the eastern side of the state. The light was deactivated in 1954 after Hurricane Carol and was going to be destroyed, but local citizens ...

Alternate spellings

The spelling "Sakonnet" has become accepted because of long use on maps, but the name is sometimes written as 'Sekonnet', 'Seaconnet', 'Sakonnet', 'Saconnet', 'Sakonett', or 'Segonet'.

References

Algonquian peoples Native American tribes in Rhode Island {{NorthAm-native-stub