In regard to the subdivision of Wampanoag territory, Vaughan offers
the following statement:
Anthropologists recognize nine subdivisions on the mainland, an
additional four on Martha’s Vineyard, and several others scattered
throughout the offshore islands and coastal promontories. The
mainland sub-tribes were generally quite cohesive, largely because
of the strong leadership offered by Massasoit and his immediate
heirs. The leading Wampanoag sachems kept their principal
headquarters at Pokanoket (now Bristol Rhode Island)....[390]
The actual organization of the territory into political units
is difficult to discover from information recorded during the
seventeenth century. Ideally, there would have been a sachem over
each of the Wampanoag subdivisions and under him various sub-sachems
who exercised some authority over more localized areas.[391]
Probably, as the passage by Vaughan suggests, true organization on a
“tribal” basis was an ephemeral thing.[392]
When a leader arose who could attract and hold the loyalty of the
various subdivisions of the Wampanoags, then he came to exercise some
authority beyond whatever tract of land would have been considered
his “territory”—that is, the land which he had the right to allot.
Massasoit was such a leader. He controlled a certain territory but
also commanded the support of other sachems and received gifts from
them as tokens of their loyalty.[393] The absolute authority of a
tribal leader like Massasoit was solid only as long as he could
keep his followers in agreement with him, and dissension was not
unexpected.[394] Upon the death of a sachem, there was probably
considerable shuffling and re-shuffling of territorial affiliation.