'For centuries our story has been marginalised': Native Americans reflect on the Mayflower 400 years on

Native Americans tell Rory Sullivan how after centuries of erasure they are trying to reclaim the story of the historic voyage from English shores

A wampum belt made by the Wampanoag community will tour the UK to mark the 400th anniversary of the Mayflower's voyage. (SmokeSygnals )

Four hundred years ago, and after a few failed attempts to cross the Atlantic, the Mayflower began its now historic voyage, carrying more than 100 English Pilgrims to a new life in America.

What happened next is taught in curriculums across the globe: the landing of the Pilgrims on the east coast of the present-day US a few months later; the founding of Plymouth Colony; and the meal shared the following autumn between the settlers and the indigenous population that had helped them, an occasion which gave rise to the tradition of Thanksgiving.

It is this simple narrative which features prominently at the start of many histories about US nation-building.