Post-contact

Post-contact refers to the time of European visitation and settlement. The beginning of the post-contact differs depending on the geographic region. Along Long Island Sound it dates to the 1500s. In northwestern Connecticut it dates from the late 1600s to the early 18th-century. The time frames of “pre-contact” and “post-contact” were traditionally referred to as prehistoric and historic. Those words implied that prior to European contact the New World had no history, which is untrue. Indigenous peoples kept and passed down meticulous oral accounts of their tribal histories.