Awashonks (also spelled Awashunckes, Awashunkes or Awasoncks) was a saunkskwa, a female sachem (chief) of the Sakonnet tribe in Rhode Island. She lived near the southern edge of the Plymouth Colony on Patuxet homelands, not far from Narragansett Bay, near what is currently known by settlers as Little Compton, Rhode Island. In the mid-seventeenth century, English settlers of Plymouth Colony invaded her lands. While she had allied herself with the English to increase her power, English colonization eroded her standing among both the English and the Sakonnet.
Awashonks is known for her special talent for negotiation and diplomacy, which helped include the Sakonnets among Native communities who received amnesty from colonists. She became a saunkskwa not by inheritance, but through the quality of her leadership. During her tenure, she was challenged by both rivals within the Sakonnet and English colonists.
Awashonks was not diplomatically allied with the English until July 1671 when Plymouth leaders called her and other Indian leaders to a meeting and threatened to send an army to fight them if they refused to attend. Awashonks signed the Articles of Agreement, in which she agreed to surrender guns and Sakonnet who were accused of inciting trouble. The agreement was also signed by Totatomet and Somagaonet, witnessed by Tattacommett, Samponcut, and Tamoueesam, on July 24, 1671. Later in August, Awashonks’ men signed a paper approving what she had done in accordance with the agreement. Governor Prince wrote to her on October 20, 1671, assuring her of the English friendship.
Awashonks made appearances in the Plymouth court system. In 1674, Mammanuah, her son and a Sakonnet rival, accused Awashonks of assault. After he had tried to sell land to English settlers, Awashonks ordered men to tie him up and threaten him. The court ruled in Mammanuah’s favor, possibly to appease the English land buyers. However, out of respect for Awashonks, the court reduced her fine to only 5 pounds, rather than the 500 pounds that Mammanuah demanded.
Awashonks had two husbands, Wawayeenit and Tatoson. By Tatoson, she had her son Peter Awashanks, or Petonuitt, her daughter Betty, and Mammanuah, who became the reigning sachem and died in 1698. Mammanuah had two sons, John and William Mammanuah, and John also had a son named John. Peter Awashanks did not ascend to the sachemdom in part because, after King Philip’s War, he was prohibited from returning to Little Compton.