When the British set foot on the North American continent at Jamestown, they encountered the Powhatan Indians. The Pequots Lived in New England as the Pilgrims and Puritans established a new home. and William Penn encountered the Leni Lenape natives while settling "Penn's Woods." Although these tribes have great differences, they are linked linguistically. All of these tribes, or nations, speak an Algonquin language. These Algonquian groups were the first the English would encounter as these early settlements began to flourish.