Indian communities and outmigration of people leading to greater isolation of speakers. The Wampanoag on Noepe, with its more secure land base and larger population, held onto Massachusett as the communal language into the 1770s and went extinct with the death of the last Wampanoag dialect—and last speakers of any Massachusett dialect—in the 1890s.Speck, F. G. (1928). "Territorial Subdivisions and Boundaries of the Wampanoag, Massachusett, and Nauset Indians." Frank Hodge (ed). Lancaster, PA: Lancaster Press. p. 46. (PDF) Early subsistence The Massachusett occupied fertile flatlands. Men and women cleared fields first by burning trees, then by removing stumps. Women grew food crops, but men were involved in tobacco cultivation. Women used clamshell hoes. Women cultivated crops such as northern flint corn, called weachimineash in Massachusett, a variety of brands, squashes, and pumpkins. They planted corn in mounds, then planted beans that grew up the cornstalks, and finally the cucurbits, which protected roots and discouraged weeds. This companion planting method is called the Three Sisters. Other regional plant foods included grapes, strawberries, blackberries, currants, cherries, plums, raspberries, acorns, hickory nuts, chestnuts, butternuts, and leafy greens and pseudocereals such as chenopods. Massachusett people lived in conditional sedentary villages built along rivers. Families lived in domed houses, called wétu in Massachusett. The base structure of curved wooden support beams was covered with woven mats in the winter or chestnut bark in the summer. Inside, possessions were stored in hemp dogbane bags and baskets of all sizes. Men carved wooden bowls and spoons as dining utensils. Water transport was by both either carved dugout canoes and birchbark canoes. History European exploration of the 16th century The first known European encounter may have been in 1605 when French explorer Samuel de Champlain arrived in Boston Harbor. Champlain met with Massachusett leaders on several of the Boston Harbor Islands and anchored off Shawmut to conduct trade. Champlain was accompanied by an Algonquin guide and his "Massachusett-speaking"—wife who helped translate. Despite mapping the region to promote French interest, colonization support was deterred by the dense population and resistance to contact by some of the Massachusett leaders The region was later mapped as "New England" by John Smith who followed in many of Champlain's footsteps, but also made landfall at Wessagusset and Conohasset where he conducted trade and met with the chiefs, and helped promote further English colonial settlement in the region. 17th-century epidemics With increasing levels of