The First People of Roxbury

The First People of Roxbury. Roxbury Heritage State Park. , People have lived in the Roxbury area since the last glaciers melted 14,000 years ago. As the climate warmed, glacial melt flooded rivers and coasts, creating a diverse ecosystem. Forests and waters supported abundant game, fish, and shellfish, as well as communities of humans. When the shoreline stabilized 3,500 years ago, an agrarian society developed. Eventually over 70 villages, containing 200 to 2,000 people, could be found in this area. But European fishermen and traders introduced diseases creating an epidemic that was a catastrophe for the Massachusetts, Nipmuc, and other tribal communities. , Colonists from England arrived in 1530 and found abundant natural resources, but few people. Most survivors were forced into "Praying Villages," schools, and reservations. During a brutal war in 1675, indigenous people were forced into internment camps on the harbor islands where they died, were sold into slavery, or had to sell their homelands to gain freedom. Many indigenous people live in Massachusetts today, honoring and sustaining their cultural heritage., Caption , For thousands of years indigenous people set up seasonal camps like this one, to harvest and preserve the shellfish and fish gathered from the tidal flats and open water.