Sachem

A sachem or sagamore is a usually male paramount chief among the Algonquians or other Native American tribes of northeastern North America, including the Iroquois. The two words are anglicizations of cognate terms (c. 1622) from different Eastern Algonquian languages. Some sources indicate the sagamore was a lesser chief elected by a single band, while the sachem was the head or representative elected by a tribe or group of bands; others suggest the two terms were interchangeable. The sachem is an appointed or elected position and not strictly hereditary. However, the choice of sachem is at least partly based on the prominence of the individual's family or kinship ties to the previous sachem.