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The Western Abenaki (also '''Abenaki''', '''Wabanaki'''), meaning people of the dawn, are a Tribe of Native Americans / First Nations belonging to the Algonquian Peoples of northeastern North America . They should not be confused with the neighboring Eastern Abenaki . The term ''Wabanaki'' sometimes is used to refer to Western Abenaki, Eastern Abenaki, Maliseet - Passamaquoddy , and Micmac as a single group. LOCATION Traditionally, the Western Abenakis inhabited mostly within New Hampshire and Vermont but also in parts of Quebec and western Maine . with Birch Bark covering'']] LANGUAGE There are two primary dialects of Abenaki: Western Abenaki, the language of the Abenaki community at Odanak, and Eastern Abenaki, which is represented by the modern language of the Penobscot tribe, as well as in the Abenaki linguistic materials of the colonial French missionaries. The Abenaki language is closely related to those of their neighboring tribes such as the Mi'kmaq , Maliseet , and Passamaquoddy . There were numerous cultural differences between the Algonquian tribes and those of the Five Nations with linguistic and spiritual differences being the most noticeable. There are very few native speakers of the original Abenaki language still alive. There are active Abenaki communities in Quebec, Vermont, Maine, and New Hampshire. Their language has been preserved in the monumental dictionary of Sebastian Rasle, and in the 1994 dictionary by Gordon Day. HISTORY They took sides with the French and maintained an increasing hostility against encroachments of the English. When their principal town, Norridgewock , was taken, and their missionary, Rasle, was killed (1724), the greater part of them removed to St. Francis , in the province of Quebec, Canada, where other refugees from the New England tribes had preceded them. As of the early 1900s, they were represented by the Amalectites on the St. John River , New Brunswick, and Quebec (820); the Passamaquoddies, on the bay of that name, in Maine (300); the Penobscots, at Old Town, Maine (400), and the Abnakis at St. Francis and Becancourt, Quebec (430). There are a dozen variations of the name Abenakis, such as Abenaquiois, Abakivis, Quabenakionek, Wabenakies, etc. They are described in the "Jesuit Relations" as not cannibals, and as docile, ingenious, temperate in the use of liquor, and not profane. After the unsuccessful attempt of de la Saussaye, in 1613, to plant a colony at Mount Desert -- where the Jesuit Fathers Biard, Masse, and Quentin proposed to evangelize the Indians -- the Capuchins and the Recollects, aided by secular priests from the seminary of Quebec, undertook the work, but met with indifferent success. The Jesuit Druillettes was sent to them in 1646, but remained only a short time. Subsequently, other missionaries like Bigot, Thury, and de la Chasse laboured among them, but three years after the murder of Father Rasle, that is to say in 1727, when Fathers Syvesme and Lauverjat withdrew, there was no resident pastor in Maine, though the Indians were visited by priests from time to time. They remained unalterably attached to the Faith, and during the Revolution, when Washington sent to ask them to join with the colonies against England, they assented on condition that a Catholic priest should be sent to them. Some of the chaplains of the French fleet communicated with them, promising to comply with their request, but beyond that nothing was done. In the early 1900s there were Indian missions for the remnants of the tribe at Calais, Eastport, and Old Town. Migration Abenakis are not a Federally Recognized Tribe in the United States, unlike almost all of the other eastern tribes. This is due to the decimation or assimilation of the Abenaki and subsequent isolation of each small remnant of the greater whole onto reservations during and after the French And Indian War , well before the US government began acknowledging the sovereignty of native tribes in the late twentieth century. Facing decimation, the Abenakis began immigrating to Canada, then under French control, around 1669 where they were granted two seigneuries. The first seigneurie was established on the Saint-François river and is now known as the Odanak Indian Reserve, the second was established on the river Bécancour and is now known as the Wôlinak Indian Reserve. GOVERNMENT The Abenaki were ruled by elected chiefs called Sagamore s, who usually served for life but could be impeached. They had little actual power, but Europe an Colonizers still treated them like Monarch s, resulting in many miscommunications and oversimplifications. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
Maurault, Joseph-Anselme, Jistoire des Abénakis, depuis 1605 jusqu'à nos jours, 1866 |
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