<P> When Europeans began to settle in Maryland in the early 17th century, the main tribes included the Nanticoke on the Eastern Shore, and the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannock . Early exposure to new European diseases brought widespread fatalities to the Native Americans, as they had no immunity to them . Communities were disrupted by such losses . Furthermore, The Susquehannock, already incorrectly considered savages and cannibals by the first Spanish explorers, made massive moves to control local trade with the first Swedish, Dutch and English settlers of the Chesapeake Bay region . As the century wore on, the Susquehannock would be caught up in the Beaver Wars, a war with the neighboring Lenape, a war with the Dutch, a war with the English, and a series of wars with the colonial government of Maryland . Due to colonial land claims, the exact territory of the Susquehannock was originally limited to the territory immediately surrounding the Susquehanna River, however archaeology has discovered settlements of theirs dating to the 14th and 15th centuries around the Maryland - West Virginia border, and beyond . It could generally be assumed that most of Maryland's southern border is based on the borders of their own land . All of these wars, coupled with disease, destroyed the tribe and the last of their people were offered refuge from the Iroquois Confederacy to the north shortly thereafter . </P> <P> The closest living language to them are the languages of the Mohawk and Tuscarora Iroquois, who once lived immediately north and south of them . The English and Dutch came to call them the Minqua, from Lenape, which breaks into min - kwe and translates to "as a woman ." As to when they arrived, some early records detailing their oral history seem to point to the fact that they descended from an Iroquoian group who conquered Ohio centuries before, but were pushed back east again by Siouan and Algonquin enemies . They also conquered and absorbed other unknown groups in the process, which probably explains how languages like Tuscarora came to be so completely divergent from other Iroquoian languages . It also appears possible that the word "Iroquois" actually derived from their language . </P> <P> The Nanticoke seem to have been largely confined to Indian Towns, but were later relocated to New York in 1778 . Afterwards, they dissolved, with groups joining the Iroquois and Lenape . </P> <P> Also, as Susquehannocks began to abandon much of their western-most territory due to their own hardships, a group of Powhatan split off, becoming known as the Shawnee and migrated into the western regions of Maryland and Pennsylvania briefly before moving on . At the time, they were relatively small, but they eventually made the Ohio River, migrating all the way into Ohio and merged with other nations there to become the powerful, military force that they were known to be during the 18th and 19th centuries . </P>

Who migrated to maryland during colonization of america