This article is about the ethnic group. For their language, see Abenaki language.

Abenaki

Flag of St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenaki

Total population
12,000 (US and Canada)
Regions with significant populations
United States (Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont)
Canada (New Brunswick, Quebec)
Languages
English, French, Abenaki
Religion
largely Roman Catholic
Related ethnic groups
Algonquian peoples
The Abenaki (Abnaki, Wabanaki, Waponahki) are a Native American tribe and a First
Nations band government. They are one of the Algonquian-speaking peoples of northeastern
North America. The Abenaki live in Quebec and the Maritimes of Canada and in the New
England region of the United States, a region called Wabanaki ("Dawn Land") in the Eastern
Algonquian languages. The Abenaki are one of the five members of the Wabanaki
Confederacy. "Abenaki" is a linguistic and geographic grouping; historically there was not a
strong central authority, but as listed below a large number of smaller bands and tribes who
shared many cultural traits.[1]

Contents

1 Name

2 Subdivisions

3 Location

4 Language

5 History
o 5.1 Abenaki wars
o 5.2 Canada

o 5.3 United States

5.3.1 Vermont

5.3.1.1 Official state tribal recognition

5.3.2 New Hampshire and minority recognition

6 Culture
o 6.1 Hair style and other marriage traditions
o 6.2 Gender, food, division of labor, and other cultural traits
o 6.3 Storytelling
o 6.4 Mythology

7 Population and epidemics

8 Fiction

9 Non-fiction

10 Maps

11 Notable people

12 Footnotes

13 Bibliography

14 Further reading

15 External links

Name
The word Abenaki means people of the dawnlands".[2] The Abenaki people call themselves
Alnbak, meaning "Real People" (c.f., Lenape language: Lenapek). They also use the
autonym Alnanbal, meaning "men".[1] In addition, when compared to the more interior
Algonquian peoples, they call themselves Wbanuok, meaning "Easterners" (c.f.
Massachusett language: Wpanak). They also refer to themselves as Abenaki or with
syncope: Abnaki. Both forms are derived from Wabanaki or the Wabanaki Confederacy, as
they were once a member of this confederacy they called Wbanakiak, meaning "People of
the Dawn Land" in the Abenaki languagefrom wban ("dawn" or "east") and aki ("land")[3]
(compare Proto-Algonquian *wapan and *axkyi)the aboriginal name of the area broadly

corresponding to New England and the Maritimes. It is sometimes used to refer to all the
Algonquian-speaking peoples of the areaWestern Abenaki, Eastern Abenaki, WolastoqiyikPassamaquoddy, and Mi'kmaqas a single group.[2]

Subdivisions
Historically, ethnologists have classified the Abenaki as groups: Western Abenaki and Eastern
Abenaki. Within these groups are the Abenaki bands:

Western Abenaki
o Amoskeay
o Arsigantegok (also Arrasaguntacook, Ersegontegog, Assagunticook, Anasaguntacook), lived
o Cocheco

o Cowasuck (also Cohass, Cohasiac, Koasek, Koasek, Coos- "People of the Pines"), lived in the

o Missiquoi (also Masipskwoik, Mazipskikskoik, Missique, Misiskuoi, Missisco, Missiassik - "Pe