The Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation is an American Indian tribe in southeastern Connecticut descended from the Pequot people who dominated southeastern New England in the seventeenth century. It is one of five tribes recognized by the state of Connecticut. In 2002, the Secretary of the Interior granted recognition to the Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation (EPTN) after approving a union between the Eastern Pequot and Paucatuck Eastern Pequot which had submitted separate petitions for recognition. In 2005, the Department of Interior revoked recognition after Bureau of Indian Affairs review. The federal government had not terminated recognition of any tribes since the 1970s. In 2012, the EPTN filed a federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the BIA/Department of Interior revocation. History The Pequot people today are descended from the tribe that was the dominant power in southeastern New England in the 1600s. That power declined sharply following the Pequot War in 1637, and many surviving Pequots were assigned to the supervision of the Mohegan tribe in the west and Narragansett people in the eastern part of the region. The Bureau of Indian Affairs stated in 2002: "Those Pequots whom the colonial government removed from the supervision of the Eastern Niantic sachem Ninigret in 1654 were subsequently governed by two Indian rulers: Harmon Garrett and Momoho. The Colony of Connecticut purchased the Lantern Hill land for Momoho's Pequots in 1683. Since then there has been an unbroken history of state recognition and a reservation for this tribe." The Eastern Pequots are descended from those Pequots who escaped from the Narragansetts and returned to their traditional territory. In 1683, they were given a reservation on Lantern Hill in North Stonington, Connecticut by the colonial government. Today it is approximately 224 acres. Those Pequots who returned from Mohegan supervision in the west were led by Harmon Garrett, and the colony gave them a reservation near Ledyard, Connecticut where they became known as the Western Pequots, or Mashantucket Pequots. Both groups intermarried with members of other ethnic groups through the centuries but maintained cultural continuity through their practices of traditional crafts and customs. By the 20th century, most descendants were multi-racial, while some identified themselves as Pequot. However, by the 1930s, the tribe began to be divided over questions of identity, aggravated by competition for resources and limited space on the Eastern Pequot Reservation. There were racially based conflicts between darker- and lighter-skinned descendants among both the