North American Indian people now living in eastern Connecticut, U.S. Pequot is an Algonquian language, and the name is derived from an Algonquian word meaning "destroyers.
" Pequot subsistence was based on corn cultivation, hunting, and fishing. The people were at one time united with the Mohegan . For a brief period the Pequot lived amicably with the American colonists, but relations became strained as land pressures grew. Puritan clergymen encouraged violence against the Pequot as infidels, and in 1636 war broke out, resulting in large losses. Further destruction resulted when the remaining Pequot were placed under the control of other tribes. In 1655 the few remaining Pequot were resettled on the Mystic River. The two groups of Pequot number about 1,000.