Wampanoag, a tribe of Indians of the Algonquian language family. They lived between Narrangansett Bay and the Atlantic, south of the Massachuset Confederacy. The Wampanoag chief Massasoit made a treaty with the Pilgrims shortly after their landing at Plymouth in 1620. His son, Metacom, sometimes called Metacomet, or King Philip, led in King Philip's War against the colonists (1675–76) in which the power of the tribe was destroyed. Epidemics in 1617 and 1763 also cut the tribe's numbers. A few descendants remain, on Martha's Vineyard.