Arsigantegok

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Former residential area of ​​the Arsigantegok

The Arsigantegok were an Algonquin- speaking Indian tribe in northeastern North America who linguistically and culturally belonged to the Western Abenaki . They were members of the Abenaki - confederation , but lost in the 18th century their identity. Their descendants can be found today in the Indian reservations of Wôlinak and Odanak in the Canadian province of Québec .

Surname

With the name Arsigantegok , (deviating: Arrasaguntacook, Ersegontegog, Assagunticook, Anasaguntacook ), the Saint François River and Arsigantewiak were called the Saint Francis Indians in the 18th century . Arsigantegok seems to have its origin in the Abenaki word Arsikanntekw (dt: river of empty huts ), possibly so named because many of the huts were empty due to the smallpox epidemic when the Abenaki from Sillery , a Jesuit mission in Québec, arrived here. This name was adopted from the Western Abenaki with Alsigontegok and various etymologies have been developed accordingly.

residential area

The residential area of ​​the Arsigantegok stretched on both sides of the Saint François River in Québec. In view of the affliction of several epidemics and wars, the Abenaki fled to Canada under French protection, where they were granted two seigneuries in 1669 . A seigneurie was a land transfer to colonists in New France in the 17th and 18th centuries. The first seigneurie was established on the Saint François River and still exists today under the name Odanak (English: Odanak Indian Reserve); the second was built on the Bécancour River and is now called Wôlinak (English: Wôlinak Indian Reserve).

history

In 1805 the English crown granted new land on the Saint François River in Durham , Québec, to make way for the population growth from the influx of newcomers. The Durham reservation was populated not only by newcomers but also by long-time families in Saint Francis, and existed from 1805 to 1840. The residents of Saint Francis continued to be known as Sokoki and Abenaki of Saint Francis until at least 1880, according to official documents before it became common around 1990 to name the entire group Abenaki. This name was also adopted by the Indians, who started calling themselves Abenaki from the 1970s.

The Western Abenaki are not recognized as a tribe by the US (Federal Recognized Tribe ), unlike many other tribes in New England . The reason lies in the assimilation and subsequent fragmentation of the Abenaki into various reservations after the French and Indian War , long before the US government began to recognize the sovereignty of the indigenous people in the late 20th century.

Demographics

In Canada today about 400 Abenaki live in Wôlinak near Trois-Rivières in Québec and almost 1,500 relatives in Odanak, about 50 kilometers southwest of it. There are currently 2,500 Vermont Abenaki in Vermont and New Hampshire , most of them live in northwestern Vermont on Lake Champlain . You are in Sokoki-St. Francis Band of the Abenaki Nation and the Tribal council was founded in 1976 in Swanton (Vermont). They were guaranteed state recognition in the same year but later withdrawn. They formally applied for US government recognition in 1982, but the process is not over.

See also

literature

Web links