The Assateagues or Assateague Indian Tribe are an Algonquian tribe speaking the Nanticoke language who historically lived on the Atlantic coast side of the Delmarva Peninsula (known during the colonial period as the Eastern Shores of Maryland and Virginia, and the Lower Counties of Pennsylvania). The aboriginal Assateague chiefdom was adapted to the maritime and forest resources of the Chincoteague Bay watershed and involved in the manufacture and trade of shell beads.