Western Abenaki
The Western Abenaki are Native American people . They form the western dialect and tribal group of the Abenaki , which differed from the eastern tribal group, the Eastern Abenaki , due to their dialect . They were originally located in the extreme northeast of the United States and spoke Western Abenaki (also Wôbanakiôdwawôgan ), an eastern Algonquin language . They once formed the Wabanaki Confederation with four other neighboring Algonquian tribes in the region , which was formed in response to the Iroquois League.
Name and language
The western Abenaki call themselves Waban-Aki or Wobanakii , sometimes also Benaki . The name means people of the dawn or people of the east and comes from the Iroquois language .
The existence of this group is attributed by linguists to a language that was spoken in Odanak , the former Saint Francis, in the early 19th century and is documented by numerous place names in Vermont and New Hampshire in the 17th and 18th centuries . This language, which is still spoken today by Indians in Odanak on the Rivière Saint-François in the Canadian province of Québec , differs from the language of the Eastern Abenaki in Maine due to differences in pronunciation, grammar and vocabulary. There is no knowledge of the geographic boundary between the languages of the Eastern and Western Abenaki, as insufficient data are available from the border area. It is believed that Western Abenaki was spoken by Indians on the Upper Merrimack River , Upper and Middle Connecticut River, and Lake Champlain .
Western Abenaki tribes
- Arsigantegok
- Cowasuck
- Missisquoi
- Penacook
- Sokoki
- and a number of smaller tribes such as Naumkeag, Nashaway, Pawtuckett, Souhegan, and Winnipesaukee .
The Sokoki lived on the upper Connecticut River in the early 17th century and can be seen as the first inhabitants of St. Francois, later Saint Francis. On the upper Merrimack River lived other tribes of the Western Abenaki, the Winnipesaukee and the Penacook.
Downstream there were other groups in Amoskeag ( Manchester , New Hampshire), Souhegan , Nashaway , Pawtuckett ( Lowell, Massachusetts ) and Naamkeek , now Salem , Massachusetts . All of these tribes were under the rule of Passaconaway , whose main residence was in Amoskeag and Pawtuckett , so it can be assumed that they belonged to the Western Abenaki.
Western Abenaki also inhabited the east coast of Lake Champlain . Today we know former villages at the confluence of the rivers Winooski , Lamoille and Missisquoi on the Grand Isle in Maine , but most of the native inhabitants were concentrated on the Missisquoi River in the 17th century. In many traditional reports the Missisquoi are called Champlain Valley Abenaki . The tribes in the valleys of Lake Champlain, Connecticut, and Merrimack Rivers did not appear to have waged wars against one another during the historical period. They were often allied with one another, settled in the same refugee or missionary villages, and it is very likely that they belonged to one people.
| Village | Today's name | Location | tribe |
|---|---|---|---|
| Squagheag | Northfield | upper Connecticut | Sokoki |
| Pawtuckett | Lowell Falls | lower Merrimack | Pawtuckett |
| Amoskeag | Manchester | medium merrimack | ? |
| Penacook | Concord | medium merrimack | Penacook, Winnipesaukee |
| Naamkeek | Salem | Massachusetts Bay | Naumkeag |
| Cowasuck | Newbury | upper Connecticut | Cowasuck |
| Missisquois | Swanton | Lake Champlain | Missisquoi |
| Odanak | Saint Francis | Saint-François River | Sokoki, Arsigantegok |
Residential area and environment
The residential area of the Western Abenaki extended at the beginning of the 17th century over the current US states of New Hampshire and Vermont, as well as the adjacent Canadian province of Quebec. Geographically, this country consists of many mountains and rivers, from west to east one can name the Champlain Valley, the Green Mountains, the Connecticut River Valley and the White Mountains, whose adjoining highlands cut through the valleys of Lake Winnipesaukee and the Merrimac River in the south . Rainfall is abundant all year round. Winters are bitterly cold and the country is covered in snow for four to five months, but summers are often very warm.
In the lowlands, a mixed forest was found consisting of deciduous trees, hemlocks and arborvitae , which were occasionally towered over by large individual specimens. Northern deciduous trees and red firs grew predominantly on the mountains and mountain slopes, while there were balsam spruce , deciduous trees, black spruce , larch and arborvitae in the swamp areas .
The area was very rich in game, both large game and fur animals. Large wild animals included elk , deer and black bear and fur animals included beavers, muskrats , otters, mink , marten, fishing marten , raccoon , fox and skunk . Countless wolves , bobcats , hares, rabbits, weasels, squirrels and many species of birds lived here. Further north, more elk and fewer deer were found, but woodland caribou and even more beavers.
Livelihood
In the individual groups there were local differences in the annual cycle due to other food sources. Nevertheless, historians have been able to reconstruct a generally applicable course of the year. It was common practice in spring to tap maple trees to make syrup and sugar. An oblique cut was made in the bark and an elderberry branch, from which the pulp had been drilled out, stuck into the lower end of the cut. The juice that ran out was collected in birch bark containers and boiled to a syrup consistency. For this purpose, the Abenaki used bark buckets or clay pots, which were replaced in later years by commercial iron kettles.
The next activity was to catch large quantities of fish from the spring schools in the river using pots, traps, fishing rods and nets. The Abenaki gathered spring plants, for example the tubers of earth pears or wild potatoes. They hunted wild pigeons ( passenger pigeons ), which migrated in huge bird migration through the country to the north.
The field and gardening work was mainly done by women who tilled the fields with corn, beans and pumpkins (the so-called three sisters ) in May , while men only planted the tobacco in small separate gardens. The Abenaki had apparently taken over agriculture from the Iroquois before the colonial era ; it was an important element in stabilizing the population to withstand the Iroquois expansion. Summer livelihood activities consisted of weeding the corn fields, fishing, and picking wild berries, of which blueberries were particularly valued.
Clothing and jewelry
The men wore trousers made of tanned leather with a fringed belt that was looped two or three times around the waist and tied at the waist. There were two different patterns of moccasins , the beaver tail and the rabbit nose .
In the cold season, rabbit fur footrests were worn under the moccasins and a second pair with higher shafts was pulled over them. There were leggings with feet that came up to the thigh and were attached to the belt. One item of clothing for cold weather was a sleeveless, painted coat, which consisted of a piece of elk leather at the front and back. There were also separate sleeves. Unfortunately, there is no known museum that has a copy of this coat.
The young, unmarried man could be recognized by his long, loose hair, while the hairstyle of the married man consisted of a roll held with leather straps or a knot on the head. The woman wore her long hair loose, characteristic features were two hairbands and a flat roller on top of the head, which was held by a leather band with frayed ends. There were hats for cold and wet weather. The headgear of the women was round and both sexes wore feathers on it. For example, the men wore fur hats made from the skin of young deer with their antlers on. The men wore a knife in a sheath in front of their chests as clothing. A hardwood tree root drinking cup and a small leather pouch with a lighter , pipe, tobacco and medicine pouch were attached to the belt . The women usually wore moccasins, leggings, a knee-length shirt and a jacket that reached mid-thigh.
Abenaki clothing was influenced early on by European merchandise, but even after 1850 older people were seen in traditional costume.
Equipment and tools
On the hunt, the Western Abenaki hunting weapons from bows and used sheets existed, knife and spear. In the event of war, a characteristic war club with a round head made from a hardwood root and protruding sharpened branches was added as a weapon.
One of the most important pieces of equipment in winter was snowshoes and in summer the birch bark canoe was indispensable. Heavy loads were transported in winter on a toboggan or on your back in a blanket with belts. Chip baskets, which were very common in the 19th century, probably only appeared after contact with whites. Babies were by their mothers on the cradle board (Engl. Cradle board ) worn.
Life cycle
childhood
The Abenaki, like all Indians, were caring parents who never beat their children. Children were brought up through repetitive traditional narratives and exhortations and feared public disapproval for breaking a prohibition. There were also penalties, such as painting a child's face black or being expelled from the wigwam. In many cases, the paternal grandparents took over the upbringing of their grandchildren. A boy was given his first small bow with arrows for target practice when he was about six years old, and when he was 10 to 12 years old he was allowed to hunt with his father or uncle for the first time. The little girls were involved in household chores at an early stage. If the boy reached puberty, he looked for a trend-setting appearance , while the girl had to withdraw during her first menstruation .
wedding
If a young man had found a suitable wife for himself, he would send a mediator to the chosen one with a gift, for example a wampum chain . If the girl refused the gift, she had rejected the applicant. If the application was accepted, the young man went hunting until he had brought down a sizable bride present. This was followed by a period in which the couple tried to sleep together. It happened that afterwards they separated again and the man lost his presents. The wedding ceremony was held in the presence of the chief and the families, and was usually followed by a lavish banquet and ritual dances.
funeral
It was believed that the ghost of an unburied dead remained with the corpse as a dreaded spirit fire, and so efforts were made to bury all the dead as much as possible. In winter the ground was frozen hard. The dead were kept on scaffolding until a spring burial was possible. Instead of a coffin, the corpse was wrapped in a roll of bark along the entire length of the body and wrapped with string. The grave goods included the deceased's weapons and implements, as well as sufficient food for the spirit trail into the Other World . A tent-like structure made of wood was erected over the grave, at one end of which was an upright board with the name of the deceased. The grave faced east and that of a chief was planted with an oval of tree saplings.
Social and political organization
Western Abenaki society was patrilineal . One to several nuclear families of the same patrilinear line lived together in an elongated bark house and formed the household. The official unit was the group connected by a totem , consisting of men, women and children who were considered the descendants of a male ancestor. The tribe was described as having all households common . In 1736, in Saint Francis there were the totems of the turtle, the bear, the beaver, the otter and the partridge.
Married sons usually lived with their parents, but if practical considerations dictated it, a daughter's husband could live with his father-in-law.
Only a man with exceptional skills could become a chief and was inducted into office with a special ceremony at which he was also given a new name. In each tribe of the Western Abenaki there was a peace chief and a war chief. Usually a chief stayed in office for life, but there have been isolated cases of impeachment. The peace chief presided over the Great Council of the Nation, which was composed of the war chief and the elders of the various families.
The Grand Council regulated all national and international affairs except the question of war, which was decided by a General Council made up of all the adults of the tribe. If the decision was made to go to war, the war chief set off with the ceremonial red war club in his hand and looked for volunteers. When he had enough warriors for a troop, a festival was celebrated, followed by a war dance . A force consisted of one or more groups of about 10 men, each under a leader, who were able to carry out independent actions. A leader could only enforce instructions through persuasiveness, while he could only achieve loyalty through reputation and special skills. The military discipline common among Europeans was largely unknown among Indians. The warriors painted their faces with red paint, their bodies with their totem signs and symbols of war. In battle, scalps were captured and prisoners made. Young warriors were given new names in recognition of excellence. Captives were led between two rows of warriors by their conquerors, placing their hands on each prisoner's shoulders to show their prisoner status.
The only Indian enemies of the Western Abenaki were the Iroquois. This hostility existed even before contact with Europeans. They had a good relationship with the Algonquin-speaking tribes in New England, with whom they had long-standing friendship agreements.
Games
Fast and persistent running was very much appreciated by Western Abenaki and there were many competitions. Archery began at an early age and exercises continued throughout life. Also Lacrosse was played in the 19th century, Saint Francis and probably originates from the local residents. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, boys played a kind of snow snake by sliding down the slopes one after the other on suitable thin surfaces, but by 1900 all these games had largely been replaced by baseball and card games.
Myths
The myths of the Western Abenaki and their cosmology clearly belong to the tribal culture of northern New England. In addition to the myths, the treasure trove of legends included many oral traditions that were repeated over and over again. These stories could only be told in winter, when human natural enemies, the underwater monsters, did not hear them. There were many things in the Western Abenaki cosmos that Europeans consider lifeless. Every living being had its own special powers. There were some individuals who were endowed with unusual spiritual powers from birth. Such a person was a Medawlinno . When solving difficult oracles, the Medawlinno withdrew into a small dome-shaped hut. The instrument of the Medawlinno was the drum and the disapproval of the French Jesuits was probably the cause of its disappearance until it was rediscovered in the middle of the 20th century as an accompanying instrument for dance.
Ceremonies
Weddings, welcoming visitors from another village, appointing a chief, the first corn harvest of the year, a declaration of war and also funerals, all of these events required a public ceremony with certain rituals and dances. Such dances are still performed today, although a number of borrowed dances from other tribes are preferred, for example the eagle dance or ceiling dance of the Iroquois women, the knife dance of the Wyandot by Lorette and the pipe dance of the Fox .
Healing art
The Medawlinno was called for unknown or persistent illnesses , but the use of medicinal plants was also highly developed and is still very popular today. The Abenaki knew a variety of effective remedies, but only a few experts were experienced and successful enough to be considered professionals. In colonial times, the reputation of the Abenaki healers even reached the more distant white communities and their influence left its mark on the colonial herbalism.
history
The legend
The world of the Western Abenaki has been under the supervision of Tabaldak , the owner who had created all living creatures, for ages . Only Odziozo was powerful enough to create himself from some dust. Odziozo was the Transformer , the redesigned the surface of the earth sees fit, and finally himself transformed into a rock in Lake Champlain, to watch over his work. Men were created by Tabaldak in two attempts. First he made a man and a woman out of stone, but he didn't like the result and destroyed it again. Then he created a pair of living wood that he liked better and that became the ancestors of the Indian race. In ancient times, a person named Pedegwadzo was born of immense power and strength, who could tame the elements for the benefit of humanity.
17th century
The early history of the Western Abenaki has largely been unraveled. Considerable material has been collected at sites such as Missisquoi, Cowasuck, Squakheag, Winnipesaukee, Namaskik and Massabesic.
Relations between the Abanaki and English colonists in New England were strained from the start. The Pennacook were the southernmost group of the Western Abenaki and thus had the first permanent contact with the English. However, the permanent and never-ending conflict with the Iroquois at this time was far more serious than the conflict with the Europeans.
The Pennacook were threatened by their enemy in the west, the Mohawk, and they distrusted their Abenaki relatives in the north. They supported the Mahican in the war against the Mohawk (1624-1628). The Mohawk won the war, drove the Mahican to the east side of the Hudson River, and then directed their attacks on the Sokoki and Pennacook.
Both tribes turned to the French and English for help, but both refused because no one wanted to challenge the powerful Iroquois. The Sokoki would probably have been destroyed by the Mohawk if they had not waged war against the Algonquin and Montagnais in the valley of the St. Lawrence River at the same time and thus had to make peace with the Sokoki and Pennacook.
Another smallpox epidemic struck the New England tribes in 1633 and 1634, spreading north to the Abenaki and St. Lawrence tribes and then west to the Iroquois. Around 1637, the Abenaki probably received their first firearms from Boston dealers. The following year the English set up a trading post on the Merrimack River with the Pennacook. Even so, most of the Abenaki had to travel great distances in trade with the Europeans.
In 1642 the Western Abenaki allied themselves with the Mahican and their former enemies, the Mohawk, against the Montagnais. The fighting lasted for several years and in 1645 there was an attack by a combined force of Mohawk, Mahican and Sokoki warriors on a Montagnais village near Sillery in Quebec.
Oddly enough, this war renewed the French interest in the Abenaki. After French Jesuits obtained the release of a captured Sokoki by the Montagnais, they decided to visit the Abenaki. At the urging of the converted Montagnais, the missionaries did not visit Sokoki villages, but made several short visits to the Kennebec and Penobscot from 1646 to 1648 . The French were generally welcomed by the Eastern Abenaki and succeeded in making peace between the Montagnais and Abenaki.
The situation changed dramatically when the Iroquois defeated the Wyandot in the winter of 1648–1649. The destruction of the most important ally and trading partner of the French endangered their situation in the colonies decisively and they looked for possible allies in the fight against the Iroquois. The uncertain alliance between Sokoki and Mohawk broke up and around 1650 the Sokoki and Pocumtuc were attacked again by the Mohawk. The French supported an alliance between the Sokoki, Pocumtuc, Pennacook and Mahican and even sent a Montagnais chief and a Jesuit to Massachusetts, who asked in vain for help in the fight against the Mohawk. The French continued to support the Alliance, supplying the allied Sokoki with firearms and ammunition in 1651, but that did not offset the Iroquois' superior combat strength. The Pocumtuc fled, left the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, and headed north. That left only Missisquoi and Cowasuck in Vermont as the last larger villages of the Western Abenaki. In 1665, the 1,200-strong French Carigan-Salieres regiment arrived in New France. The French soldiers immediately attacked Mohawk villages and in the following spring of 1666 the Iroquois sought help from the British. The New York governor, concerned about French interference, pledged aid if the Mohawk made peace with the Mahican and Abenaki. The Mahican, at war with the Iroquois since 1662, agreed, but the Abenaki refused.
The Iroquois made peace with the French in 1667, which allowed the western Iroquois to focus on the war against the Susquehannock , while the Mohawk turned against the tribes in western New England. In 1668 they drove the Pennacook across New Hampshire to southern Maine. Around 1670, most of the Western Abenaki were living under French protection as refugees in Saint Francis and the surrounding area on the Saint Lawrence River . Some of them eventually moved on to the Great Lakes and in 1681 a group of Sokoki accompanied the Robert Cavelier de La Salles expedition to the southern end of Lake Michigan . After that, they decided to stay in northern Illinois and were later taken in by the Potawatomi and Miami .
18th century
Wars involving the Western Abenaki
| Wars | Duration |
|---|---|
| King Philip's War | 1675-1678 |
| King William's War | 1688-1699 |
| Queen Anne's War | 1702-1713 |
| That was stupid | 1721-1725 |
| King George's War | 1745-1748 |
| Seven Years War in North America | 1755-1759 |
| Pontiac uprising | 1763-1766 |
| American War of Independence | 1775-1782 |
| British-American War | 1812-1814 |
As loyal allies of the French, the Western Abenaki fought in a series of colonial wars between 1688 and 1759 on the side of France against England and Great Britain. By this time, the Abenaki had largely left their traditional residential areas and lived under French protection in New France . Two permanent Abenaki communities had now developed in Quebec: Becancour, near Trois-Rivieres, which consisted mostly of Eastern Abenaki from southern Maine, and St. Francois, about 45 km southwest of it, inhabited by a mixture of Sokoki, Pennacook and New England Algonquin. The Western Abenaki also had a large permanent village in Missisquoi on Lake Champlain and a smaller settlement in Cowasuck in northern Vermont. The mixed population of these villages makes the exact assignment of the Indians to certain tribes impossible, they were therefore generally referred to simply as Abenaki.
The young warriors joined French troops or walked several hundred kilometers south to raid English settlements in western New England and returned to Saint Francis laden with booty. The fighting in New England was fought with incredible cruelty on both sides and in 1695 led to the depopulation of the entire border area. The most famous raid occurred in Deerfield , Massachusetts on a curious date, February 29, 1704, in Queen Anne's War. He claimed 56 dead and 109 prisoners on the side of the colonists, while half of all houses went up in flames. In revenge, the Massachusetts militia attacked a Cowasuck village, but most of them fled north and were soon out of range. The English could not prevent further raids. Haverhill , Massachusetts, just 45 km north of Boston , was destroyed and Deerfield was able to repel another attack in 1709.
A Pocumtuc member named Gray Lock , who had found refuge in New York after the King Philips War, left Schaghticoke for the Western Abenaki in Missisquoi. After the outbreak of the Silly War in 1721 he became war chief and was very popular with his successful raids against British settlements. The colonists were unable to track him down in his hiding place near Missisquoi and turned to the Iroquois for help. They refused and instead offered a mediator role. After the war in Maine ended with the defeat of the Eastern Abenaki and the peace treaty in 1725, Massachusetts sent gifts and an offer of peace to Gray Lock that fall, but the response was renewed raids. New York, Iroquois and Penobscot tried to mediate, but Gray Lock ignored them all. It was only when a peace treaty was signed in Montreal in July 1727 that he ended the war. Gray Lock was 70 years old and the highest mountain in Massachusetts bears his name.
Seventeen peaceful years now followed - after more than fifty years of uninterrupted war between the Abenaki and New England. But there were two more colonial wars. In the French and Indian War, New England suffered comparatively few Indian attacks. The reason was the merit of a colonial commando force, the Roger's Ranger under Major Robert Rogers , which attacked and burned Saint Francis in the fall of 1759. After the war, the Abenaki were dispersed into small groups. Between 1761 and 1774, settlers invaded their former residential area and it came to the Pontiac uprising in 1763 , in which Abenaki also took part. Pontiac , Ottawa war chief, took advantage of the general discontent among the Indians to organize attacks on British forts in May 1763.
In response, the British government, with the proclamation of 1763 , forbade the colonists from advancing westward into Indian territory, but this decree was ignored by the settlers and massively worsened their relationship with the government. The British Indian agent for North America stated that the British government's proclamation would not relate to the area claimed by the Abenaki. Suddenly the Abenaki had no claim to their own land. After many years moving from New England to Canada and back, she considered Quebec a New England Indian, while New England considered them to be a Canadian. Some stayed as unwelcome guests and others went to Saint Francis. Many spread out in small groups across northern New England - homeless in their own country.
19th century
The outbreak of the American War of Independence in 1775 was confusing for the Western Abenaki, as they had been used to wars between the French and British for generations. At first the stance was divided, with one side taking the British Crown's side while the other supporting the Americans. The Abenaki in Saint Francis initially behaved neutrally, so that they were suspected of a camouflaged American espionage activity by the British leadership. The Abenaki ended up fighting on both sides. The Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Micmac sided with the Americans, hoping the British would be defeated and the French would return. The Indians in Saint Francis remained divided, but a part helped the Americans with the siege of Boston and provided scouts for Benedict Arnold's unfortunate campaign against Quebec in the winter of 1776/77. The Penobscot also served as scouts in Washington’s army and took part in the unsuccessful American attack on British forts on the Penobscot River. Colonel John Allen set up an Abenaki regiment at Machias to attack British ships on the Maine coast. Other Abenaki served with the British and raided targets on the Androscoggin River in 1781 .
After the war, the Western Abenaki did not return to their former residential areas, but preferred to stay with their relatives in Saint Francis. In 1805, the British Crown granted new land on the Saint Francois River in Durham , Québec, to make way for the influx of newcomers to the Durham Reservation . The reserve was not only populated by newcomers, but also by families who had lived in Saint Francis long before. The Abenaki in Saint Francis were officially referred to as the Sokoki and Abenaki of Saint Francis before it became common around 1990 to refer to the entire group as the Abenaki. The name was later adopted by the Indians, who called themselves Abenaki from the 1970s.
In the War of 1812, the Abenaki of Saint Francis and Bécancour provided two companies for the British armed forces, and today they refer to that participation as the last time the Abenaki were on the warpath , despite many of them participating in both world wars. After the war of 1812, parts of the eastern lands were given over to white veterans and settled, who lost their value as hunting and trapping areas for the Abenaki. Most of the tribe members moved to new hunting grounds north of the Saint Lawrence River, in an area that belonged to the Algonquin of Trois Rivières but was abandoned by them in the 1830s. Still, some Abenaki families returned to their ancient homeland in the United States for hunting, fishing, and as guides for surveyors and tourists.
20th century
From 1865 to 1950, many Abenaki left Canada to make a living in the United States making ash chip baskets. Hunting, trapping and guiding mountaineers were among the Abenaki's ways to earn a living at the end of the 19th century. By 1915, many of them moved near major cities in the North American region to work in industry.
The Western Abenaki in Odanak are governed by the laws of the Canadian Department of Indian Affairs . They are ruled by an elected chief and three elected councilors and administered by an Indian Band Manager . The majority of the population belong to the Roman Catholic Mission of Saint Francois-de-Sales , which has a permanent missionary, while a minority belong to the Anglican Church. All school children are educated in white schools outside the reservation and there are more and more young Abenaki educated in high schools and universities.
In 1974, the Abenaki language was still spoken fluently by 21 elderly people, and there were an indefinite number of other young and middle-aged people with varying levels of knowledge of the language. Young people grow up with French as their first foreign language. Odanak is outwardly similar to the Canadian villages in the area and you can practically no longer recognize the traditional culture. An exception is the occasional performance of social and ceremonial dances. Even so, older people in the 1960s could still remember elements of earlier life and many traditional Abenaki behavior patterns in child-rearing, social ties and worldview persist.
Demographics
There is insufficient data from the 17th century to reliably estimate the population of the Western Abenaki. A possible estimate could be a total of 5,000 tribesmen before the outbreak of the epidemics. Epidemics from European diseases that reduced the Native American population from ten to one or from twenty to one first broke out at the Saco Estuary in 1617, migrated further down the coast, and up the Connecticut River around 1635. In 1631, Governor Thomas Dudley estimated the Merrimack River Indians to be between 400 and 500 people. The Iraqi Wars between 1650 and 1680 were responsible for an indefinite number of deaths, as was the almost uninterrupted hostilities between the Western Abenaki and the colonists after 1675. Further losses were caused by epidemics after the settlement in Canada.
A fairly good set of statistics exists only from the Saint Francis mission, but it should be noted that this settlement never included all of the Western Abenaki. By about 1790 there were significant numbers of groups on the Missisquoi, Upper Connecticut, and the Androscoggin Rivers, and by 1850 there were numerous families in Durham, Québec. By the middle of the 19th century, a number of families had left the reserves more or less permanently. In 1904 the number of those absent was estimated at 200, and many families left the reserve during the First World War.
Resident in Saint Francis
| year | Residents |
|---|---|
| 1783 | 342 |
| 1810 | 418 |
| 1828 | 380 |
| 1848 | 306 |
| 1874 | 266 |
| 1888 | 330 |
| 1904 | 370 |
A 1965 Bureau of Indian Affairs census of tribesmen, not villagers, found 576 people. Tribesmen according to the guidelines of the BIA only include descendants of the male line and do not include people who received predominantly Abenaki blood from the maternal line, or people living outside of it who have not tried to be included in the tribal register (English: band roll) become. 1973 lived in Odanak probably 900 to 1000 people only about 220 with predominantly Abenaki blood.
See also
Web links
- Abenaki History
- Cowasuck band
- Abenaki Nation ( Memento from July 24, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
- The Abenaki Language
- Abenaki language resources ( Memento of July 24, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- Native Languages of the Americas: Abnaki-Penobscot Language
- Language Encyclopedia: Abnaki-Penobscot (text sample)
- Waban-Aki Nation, Quebec ( Memento of March 16, 2003 in the Internet Archive )
- Abenaki Museum, Odanak, Quebec
- Western Abenaki in the World Atlas of Language Structures Online (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 15. Northeast . Chapter: Western Abenaki, p. 148ff. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1978, ISBN 0-16-004575-4
- ^ Diana Muir: Reflections in Bullough's Pond: Economy and Ecosystem in New England. University Press of New England, 2000.
- ↑ a b c d e f Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast . Chapter: Western Abenaki, p. 148ff.
- ↑ a b c Abenaki History
