Subject
title
Proclamation Declaring October 13, 2025, as Indigenous Peoples’ Day in Rockville, Maryland
end
Department
City Clerk/Director of Council Operations Office
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Mayor and Council read and approve the proclamation.
Discussion
In 1977, the International Conference on Discrimination Against Indigenous Populations in the Americas, sponsored by the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, began discussing the replacement of Columbus Day in the United States with a celebration to be known as Indigenous Peoples' Day. Similarly, Native American groups staged a sort of protest in Boston instead of Thanksgiving, which has been celebrated there to mark the collaboration between New England colonists and Native Americans in the first years. In July 1990, at the First Continental Conference on 500 Years of Indian Resistance in Quito, Ecuador, representatives of indigenous people throughout the Americas agreed that they would mark 1992, the 500th anniversary of the first voyages of Christopher Columbus, as a year to promote "continental unity" and "liberation".
In 1992, the group convinced the City Council of Berkeley, California, to declare October 11 as the "Day of Solidarity with Indigenous People" and 1992 as the "Year of Indigenous People." The city implemented related programs in schools, libraries, and museums. The city symbolically renamed Columbus Day as "Indigenous Peoples' Day" beginning in 1992 to protest the historical conquest of North America by Europeans, and to call attention to the losses suffered by the Native American peoples and their cultures through diseases, warfare, massacres, and forced assimilation.
In the years following Berkeley's action, other local governments and institutions have either renamed or canceled Columbus Day, either to celebrate Native American history and cultures, to avoid celebrating Columbus and the European colonization of the Americas, or due to raised controversy over the legacy of Columbus.
How to Celebrate Indigenous Peoples Day 2025:
Celebrating Indigenous Peoples Day 2025 can be done in many different ways. One of the best ways to celebrate the day is to join in with the celebrations that are happening in your city, town, or state. There are plenty of festivities hosted on the day, and more states are favoring Indigenous Peoples Day over Columbus Day as the years go by. Another great way to celebrate the day is to learn more about indigenous peoples, histories, and cultures. This can be a fascinating learning experience for people of all ages.
On October 13, 2025, Indigenous Peoples’ Day is celebrated throughout the United States in the following states: Alabama, Alaska, California, District of Columbia, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and in Rockville, Maryland.
Special Note: On the list of Maryland Public holidays. October 13, 2025, is listed as Columbus Day, and November 28, 2025, is listed as Native American Heritage Day.
History of Maryland’s Indigenous Peoples
Maryland's Native American history is primarily composed of Algonquian-speaking tribes like the Piscataway, Nanticoke, Assateague, and Pocomoke, who inhabited the Chesapeake Bay region and coastal areas when European settlers arrived in the 17th century; these groups lived along the rivers, hunting, fishing, and cultivating crops like corn, squash, and tobacco; with the arrival of European settlers, conflict arose, leading to treaties and reservations, but many Native Americans eventually left the area due to displacement and disease epidemics; today, descendants of these tribes still live in Maryland, including a notable Lumbee population in Baltimore, and the state officially recognizes the Piscataway Indian Nation and Piscataway Conoy Tribe.
The first inhabitants of Maryland were Paleo-Indians who came more than 10,000 years ago from other parts of North America to hunt mammoth, great bison, and caribou. By 1,000 B.C., Maryland had more than 8,000 Native Americans in about 40 different tribes. Most of them spoke Algonquian languages.
The largest division of Maryland's indigenous population is primarily defined by language. In the 1600s, European explorers encountered a great diversity of people living in the area that would be named Maryland. Most of the land was claimed by Algonquin tribes, although both Iroquois and Sioux maintained a presence.
Tribes. Among these are the Accohannock, Assateague, Choptank, Delaware, Matapeake, Nanticoke, Piscataway, Pocomoke, and Shawnee. Tribes of similar traits and interests often created allegiances and political bodies for protection and commerce. Often referred to as confederacies or nations by Europeans, the largest was gathered under Chief Powhatan. Composed of Algonquin tribes, the Powhatan Confederacy stretched from the Carolinas to Maryland and was the primary governing body encountered by European settlers.
Bands: The smallest recognized group of natives, the term band usually was applied to a single village, or a cluster of closely grouped small villages of a similar tribe, or a migrant group of families. Bands could range from a few dozen to several hundred. Although few bands of certain tribes lived in Maryland, those tribes, including the Susquehannock and the Doeg, also played significant roles in Maryland colonial history.
ALGONQUIN
The Algonquin people were very prosperous during European colonization. At that time, tribes and bands were present in most colonies, and Maryland was no exception. Of the Algonquin subtribes living in Maryland, the four most prominent were the Choptank, the Delaware, the Matapeake, and the Nanticoke. As coastal people, these subtribes spent the warmer months hunting and fishing in or near the Chesapeake Bay.
Due to tribal wars and colonial incursions, a large portion of the Maryland Algonquin had emigrated by the end of the 17th century. Some Algonquin, however, chose to stay, including the Nause-Waiwash band of Dorchester County.
ANNEMESSEX
The Annemessex were a small tribe living in the area of present-day Crisfield, now Somerset County. They held close ties with the Nanticoke and the Pocomoke. Although recognized by Maryland's colonial government in the Treaty of 1662, the tribe assimilated with the Pocomoke sometime before the 1680s.
ASSATEAGUE
Living on the Eastern Shore in what today are Wicomico and Worcester counties, the Assateague (also known as Kickotanks) often were at odds with European settlers (as well as some of the other native bands). Consequently, most Assateague emigrated from Maryland by the early 1700s. Though a few moved to the Western Shore, and some traveled to Virginia and Pennsylvania, the majority settled and assimilated with tribes in Delaware.
CHAPTICO
Also known as Cecomocomoco, the Chaptico resided in southern Maryland in the area around St. Mary’s City. It is believed that the Chaptico were absorbed by neighboring Piscataway bands during the early 1700s.
CHOPTANK
With villages located on the lower Eastern Shore in what are now Dorchester and Wicomico counties, the Choptank maintained close relations with the Nanticoke.
While some tribe members purchased property and lived among the Europeans, most emigrated from Maryland during the 1700s.
TRANSQUAKING
The Transquaking were a band of Choptank encountered by Capt. John Smith (1580-1631) lived near present-day East New Market in Dorchester County.
DELAWARE
Also known as the Lenape, the Delaware bands located in Maryland were found mainly in Cecil County.
Their numbers greatly reduced from conflict and disease, most of the remaining Delaware were relocated to Oklahoma by the mid-1800s.
DOEG
Also known as the Taux or Moyumpse, the Doeg were located mainly in Virginia. With villages along the Potomac, however, the Doeg maintained trade relations with Maryland tribes, including the Nanticoke and the Piscataway.
An escalated trade dispute between the Doeg and European settlers in 1675 led to the colonist uprising known as Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia. By the late 1600s, with few villages remaining and increasing tension in Virginia, it is believed that the Doeg were absorbed by their Maryland neighbors.
MATAPEAKE
With the growing European presence on Kent Island, the Matapeake, also known as Monoponson, emigrated during the late 1600s and early 1700s. They found new homes with neighboring Algonquin tribes.
MATTAPANIENT
Located in Charles and Prince George's counties, the Mattapanient absorbed the Patuxent by the mid-1600s. During the late 1600s, the Mattapanient assimilated with the Chaptico.
MATTAWOMEN
Also known as Mataughquamend, the Mattawomen were centered near present-day Indian Head in Charles County. They maintained villages along Mattawoman Creek and on both banks of the Potomac.
NACOTCHTANK
Also known as Anacostian, Anaquashtank, and Nacostine, the Nacotchtank were a semi-agrarian band of Algonquin who lived along the eastern bank of the Anacostia River in the area that became Washington, DC. They constituted a sizable village of approximately 500 natives. With abundant wildlife, they thrived from ready access to the fur trade. During the 1600s, however, the Nacotchtank were decimated by European diseases.
With diminished numbers, the Nacotchtank relocated during the late 1660s to present-day Theodore Roosevelt Island on the Potomac River in Washington, DC. No further record of the Nacotchtank exists, and it is believed that the remnants merged with their neighboring Piscataway allies.
OZINIE
Also known as Wicomiss, the Ozinie tribe was located on the upper Eastern Shore near present-day Rock Hall in Kent County. With an estimated population of 255 in 1608, they were reduced by disease and conflict, and assimilated with the Nanticoke in the 1660s.
PATUXENT
Originally recorded as Pawtuxunt, the Patuxent tribe maintained dwellings in Calvert, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties before being absorbed by the Chaptico during the 1690s.
POCOMOKE
Before European settlement, the Pocomoke were known as the Wighcocomoco. Capt. John Smith, during his 1608 exploration of the Chesapeake Bay, observed a "people with 100 men" seated on the river Tants Wighcocomoco, meaning "Little Wighcocomoco" (now known as the Pocomoke River). Smith noted that these people were separate and distinct from the tribes that lived to the south, and that they spoke "another language from the rest." The land inhabited by the Pocomoke encompassed modern-day Somerset, Wicomico, and Worcester counties. Over time, the Pocomoke traded with other indigenous tribes and European settlers.
Due to disease, tribal wars, and growing unrest between natives and settlers, a large number of Pocomoke had emigrated north by the late 1700s. These bands assimilated with tribes from Delaware and Pennsylvania. Those who remained tended to assimilate with European settlers.
PISCATAWAY
Also known as Conoy, the Piscataway was one of the more prevalent tribes in the Chesapeake region at the time of European contact. Piscataway bands encountered by European settlers included the Chaptico, the Moyaone, the Nanjemoy, and the Potapoco.
Today, the Piscataway still reside in Anne Arundel, Calvert, Charles, Prince George's, St. Mary's, and Wicomico counties. From 1995 until 2015, the Piscataway operated the Piscataway Indian Museum and Cultural Center at Waldorf (Charles County), Maryland, in cooperation with the Maryland Historical Trust. Following the Museum's closure, its mobile program, Living the American Indian Experience, traveled around the State to educate the public about Native American history and culture, though it too has since closed.
On January 9, 2012, the Governor officially recognized two tribes of Piscataway heritage: the Piscataway-Conoy Tribe (which includes the Cedarville Band of Piscataways), and the Piscataway Indian Nation (Executive Order 01.01.2012.01; Executive Order 01.01.2012.02). They are the first tribes recognized by Maryland.
MOYAONE
Also known as Accokeek, the Moyaone were located at present-day Accokeek, in Prince George's County. Once the government seat of the Piscataway, with a population of nearly a thousand people, the village itself was abandoned before European settlement. It is believed that the population was absorbed into neighboring Piscataway tribes.
NANJEMOY
The Piscataway band, who lived between Mallows Bay and Nanjemoy Creek in Charles County.
POTAPOCO
Also known as Portobacks, or Potobagos, the Potapaco maintained three villages along the Port Tobacco River in Charles County. Recorded in Captain John Smith's 1608 explorations of the Chesapeake Bay, the tribe migrated south during the late 1600s, settling along the Rappahannock River in Virginia, and assimilated with other Algonquin tribes.
SHAWNEE
During the 1660s, due to conflict among the native nations in the west, a large number of Shawnee bands emigrated south and east from their homes in what is now Illinois. Most fled into Kentucky, but one band, the Youghiogheny, traveled further and settled in western Maryland in what later became Garrett County.
In the late 1600s and early 1700s, other Shawnee bands that traveled through Maryland did not stay.
TOCKWOGH
Encountered by Captain John Smith in 1608, along the Sassafrass River, the Tockwogh lived on the upper Eastern Shore in Cecil and Kent counties.
YOACOMACO
A small tribe located along the St. Mary's River in southern Maryland, the Yoacomaco maintained sovereignty while conducting trade with the Piscataway, the Powhatan Confederacy of Virginia, and European settlers. Whether by disease, tribal conflict, or colonial expansion, there is no further record of the Yoacomaco tribe after the late 1600s.
A re-creation of a traditional Yoacomaco village may be seen at Historic St. Mary's City.
Source: <https://msa.maryland.gov/msa/homepage/html/mdhistory.html>
Mayor and Council History
The Mayor and Council present the Indigenous Peoples’ Day proclamation annually.