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Southern New England: Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island

state tends to be cooler and receives greater amounts of snow in the winter. History Before Europeans arrived, at least 16 Native American tribes lived in the region that is now Connecticut. These tribes belonged to a group called Algonquian. They were related by lan- guage and customs, but sometimes fought against each other. Three of the more important tribes were the pow- erful Pequot who lived along the coast; the Mohegan in eastern Connecticut; and the Quiripi, a group of small tribes that inhabited the west- ern part of the state. Adriaen Block was the first European to sail up the Connecticut River; in 1614, he claimed the river and surrounding territory for the Netherlands. Although the Dutch traded with the Algonquian natives, they didn’t have much interest in building permanent settlements. The first permanent settlers were English. During the mid-1630s, fami- lies from Puritan communities in Massachusetts began moving into

View of Lamentation Mountain State Park, near Berlin. The park is known for its hiking trails and unusual cliff formations.

January, and an high of 85ºF (29ºC) in July. Hartford receives about 44 inch- es (112 cm) of precipitation each year. Coastal areas tend to have milder temperatures and more rainfall than Hartford. The western part of the