Niantic Indians, a tribe of the Algonquian language family in two distinct divisions. The Western Niantics lived along the Connecticut coast. They were nearly destroyed in the Pequot War in 1637, and many of the survivors joined the Mohegans. The Eastern Niantics lived along the Rhode Island coast. They absorbed many Narragansets, following that tribe's defeat in King Philip's War, 1675–76, and the combined tribe came to be known as the Narragansets.