 The Founding of Maryland (1634) depicts colonists meeting the people of the Yaocomico branch of the Piscataway Indian Nation in St. Mary's City, Maryland, the site of Maryland's first colonial settlement. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| Extinct as a tribe | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Maryland, north of Potomac River | |
| Languages | |
| Eastern Algonquian, historical | |
| Religion | |
| Native | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Piscataway |
The Yaocomico /jaʊˈkɒməkoʊ/, also spelled Yaocomaco, were an Algonquian-speaking Native American group who lived along the north bank of the Potomac River near its confluence with the Chesapeake Bay in the 17th century. They were related to the Piscataway, the dominant nation north of the Potomac.
The settlers who arrived to found the English colony of Maryland purchased land for their first settlement from the Yaocomico. By the late 17th century, the tribe had disappeared from the historical record. Historians believe this was mostly due to epidemics of newly introduced infectious disease and to pressure from European settlers and other Native groups.