Editing Massasoit (section)

{{Short description|Leader of the Wampanoag confederacy}}
{{For|the hybrid grape variety|Massasoit (grape)}}
{{Infobox Native American leader
| name             = Massasoit
| native_name      = Ousamequin
| native_name_lang = 
| image            = File:Massasoit, KC MO - detail.JPG
| image_size       = 
| alt              =
| caption          = Sculpture of Ousamequin in Mill Creek Park, Kansas City, Missouri by [[Cyrus E. Dallin]]
| tribe            = [[Wampanoag]]
| birth_name       = Ousamequin
| birth_date       = {{circa|1581}}
| birth_place      = 
| death_date       = 1661 (aged 80)
| death_place      = 
| death_cause      = 
| predecessor      = 
| successor        = [[Wamsutta]]
| nicknames        = 
| resting_place    = 
| rp_coordinates   = 
| battles          = 
| office           = 
| term_start       = 
| term_end         = 
| religion         = 
| party            = 
| education        = 
| spouse           = 
| partner          = 
| children         = [[Wamsutta]], [[Metacomet]]
| parents          = 
| relations        = 
| mother_tongue    = 
| module           = 
| footnotes        = 
}}
[[Image:Profile Rock (Assonet).jpg|thumb|1904 photo of [[Profile Rock]] in [[Assonet, Massachusetts]]; local Wampanoags believe it represents Massasoit.]]
'''Massasoit Sachem'''  ({{IPAc-en|ˌ|m|æ|s|ə|ˈ|s|ɔɪ|(|ɪ|)|t}} {{respell|MASS|ə|SOYT|,_-|SOY|it}})<ref>{{cite Merriam-Webster|Massasoit|access-date=February 24, 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9MHRSimXLU&t=22s|title=Massasoit Commercial - 30 Seconds|publisher=Massasoit Community College|date=February 25, 2020|access-date=February 25, 2021}}</ref> or '''Ousamequin''' ({{circa|1581}}{{spaced ndash}}1661)<ref name=MassMF>"Native People" (page), "Massasoit (Ousamequin) Sachem" (section),''MayflowerFamilies.com'', web page:[http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/philip/d1.htm MFcom-Native] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061104203528/http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/philip/d1.htm |date=November 4, 2006 }}</ref> was the [[sachem]] or leader of the [[Wampanoag]] confederacy. ''Massasoit'' means ''Great Sachem''. Although Massasoit was only his title, English colonists mistook it as his name and it stuck.<ref>Bicknell, p. 12</ref>

Massasoit's people had been seriously weakened by a series of epidemics and were vulnerable to attacks by the [[Narragansett people|Narragansetts]], and he formed an alliance with the colonists at [[Plymouth Colony]] for defense against them. It was through his assistance that the Plymouth Colony avoided starvation during the early years.