The fight still continued in the mid-2000s.Ģ006: The Vermont Abenaki are recognized by the state. Ten years later the Supreme Court ruled against them. Francis, Quebec, to accommodate the flood of Abenaki moving there from the United States.ġ980: President Jimmy Carter signs a bill granting the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot $81 million to make up for the loss of their homelands.ġ982: The Vermont Abenaki apply for recognition by the U.S. Important Datesġ524: The Abenaki encounter the expedition of Giovanni da Verrazano.ġ689–1763: The Abenaki are caught up in wars between European nations.ġ805: The British government sets aside land near St. The British tried to establish a colony on Abenaki land in 1607, but, partly because of hostile encounters with the tribes, the settlement lasted less than a year. Croix River (in territory that is now part of the state of Maine). In 1604 French explorer Samuel de Champlain (1567–1635), visited many Abenaki villages while on a mission to trade furs and establish a French fort on the St. In return they received knives, iron axes, fishhooks, brass for making arrowheads, and cloth. Though suspicious of the foreigners, many of the Abenaki tribes engaged in fur trade with Europeans, especially the French and the British. One of the earliest was a French expedition led by Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano (c. Although Norumbega never existed, tales about the mythical city lured explorers to the area. History Mythical city lures EuropeansĪround the early 1500s people in Europe heard rumors of a wealthy Native city called “Norumbega,” which was said to be located in northern Maine. The Abenaki who remained in their homelands in the United States also tried to live quietly and avoid trouble with European settlers, but they were not always able to do so.
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The Canadian Abenaki managed to maintain peace and retain many of their customs and traditions. While the Native Americans were away from their New England territory, white settlers took over the land.
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Some tribal groups were forced to abandon their villages in New England and regroup in Canada during times of armed conflict. Then Europeans came, and from the 1600s through the 1800s the lives of Abenaki groups were terribly affected by war, starvation, and disease. The western Abenaki tribes included the Sokoki, Cowasuck, and Missiquoi.įor thousands of years the Abenaki people lived tranquil lives, hunting and fishing in the forests, ocean, lakes, and rivers of present-day Maine. The eastern Abenaki, the larger of the two branches, included the Penobscot, the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Androscoggin, Kennebec, Ossipee, and Pigwacket tribes. Some historians believe that the ancestors of the tribes making up the Abenaki confederacy first arrived in North America about three thousand years ago. In 1991 Canadian Abenaki numbered 945 by 2006 they numbered 2,164. By 2000 that total rose to 2,544, and 6,012 people claimed some Abenaki heritage. Census, 1,549 people identified themselves as Abenaki. In 1524 there were about forty thousand Abenaki (ten thousand western Abenaki and thirty thousand eastern Abenaki). Other groups of Abenaki people who do not have reservations are spread across northern New England and throughout Quebec and New Brunswick, Canada. In the mid-2000s there were Abenaki reservations in Maine and additional ones in Canada. The traditional territory of the western Abenaki groups included most of Vermont and New Hampshire, as well as the northern part of Massachusetts. The eastern Abenaki resided in Maine, east of the White Mountains of New Hampshire and in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. They were divided into eastern and western branches. The group known as Abenaki was actually a union of many tribes.
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The name Abenaki (pronounced ah–buh–NAH–key) means “people of the dawnlands.” The Abenaki people call themselves Alnombak, meaning “the people.” The Abenaki (also called “Abanaki” or “Abnaki”) were part of the Wabanaki Confederacy of five Algonquian-speaking tribes that existed from the mid-1600s to the mid-1800s.