Abenaki

From Freepedia

The Abenaki (also Wabanaki), meaning people of the dawn, are a tribe of Native Americans/First Nations belonging to the Algonquian peoples of the Northeast portion of North America.

Contents 1 History 2 Abenaki Migration 3 Location 4 Abenaki Government 5 See also 6 External links

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, whither 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. Their language has been preserved in the monumental dictionary of Sebastian Rasle. After the unsuccessful attempt of de la Saussaye, in 1613, to plant a colony as 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.

Abenaki 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.

Location

The Abenakis inhabited the area that includes parts of Quebec and the Maritime Provinces in Canada, and portions of the states of Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine in the United States. The language of the Abenakis shared common roots with neighboring tribes such as the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Norridgewock, Passamaquoddy, Penawapskewi, (otherwise known as Penobscot), and other New England tribes. There were significant cultural differences between the Algonquian tribes and those of the Five Nations with spiritual differences being the most noticeable.

There are very few native speakers of the original Abenaki language still alive, and they are all in Canada. While there are members of the tribe living in close proximity to each other in Quebec and Vermont, most other Abenakis have dispersed into the general population.

Abenaki Government

The Abenaki were ruled by elected chiefs called Sagamores, who usually served for life but could be impeached. They had little actual power, but European colonizers still treated them like monarchs, resulting in many miscommunications and oversimplifications.

See also

• Abenaki mythology

External links

• Abenaki language
• First Nations Compact History: Abenaki
• Abenaki Language Sample at Language Museum
• http://www.cowasuck.org/language/language.htm

[1] Maurault, Joseph-Anselme, Jistoire des Abénakis, depuis 1605 jusqu'à nos jours, 1866