The history of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation is one of dramatically changing fortunes. Native peoples have continuously occupied parts of Southeastern Connecticut for over 10,000 years.

Just prior to European contact, the Pequots had approximately 8,000 members and inhabited 250 square miles. However, the Pequot war (1636-1638), the first major conflict between colonists and an indigenous New England people, had a devastating result to the tribe.

Many tribal members had been killed and others placed in slavery or under the control of other tribes.

By 1774, a Colonial census indicated there were 151 tribal members living at Mashantucket; about 20miles east of Norwich, by the early 1800s, the reservation was home to only 30 or 40 members. Illegal land sales in Connecticut had reduced the 989-acre reservation to 213 acres.

In the early 1970s, tribal members began moving back to the Mashantucket reservation, hoping to restore their land base and community, develop economic self-sufficiency and revitalize the tribal culture. Members embarked on a series of economic ventures and instituted legal actions to recover illegally seized land.

They successfully fought to win tribal recognition from the U.S.
government and in 1983 were able to repurchase and place in trust a reservation that at present contains 1400 acres.

The tribe established a successful bingo operation in 1986, followed in 1992 by the highly successful Foxwoods Resort Casino. In 1998, it proudly opened the Mashantucket Pequot Museum and Research Center.

The Mashantucket Pequots Nation has diversified its business enterprises by purchasing or developing three non-gaming properties: The Spa at Norwich Inn, purchased in 1994; the Hilton Mystic Hotel, purchased in 1997, and the Lake of Isles Golf Courses, which opened in 2005.