Abenaki people

Also known as Abenaki Indians, People of the Dawn Land

The Abenaki (Abenaki: ) are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predominantly spoken in Maine, while the Western Abenaki language was spoken in Quebec, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

Key facts

Ethnic group.group: Abenaki
Ethnic group.native_name: Wôbanaki
Ethnic group.native_name_lang: abe
Ethnic group.flag: File:Abenakis.jpg
Ethnic group.caption: Abenaki couple, 18th-century watercolor illustration
Ethnic group.population: ~21,000
Ethnic group.region1: Canada
Ethnic group.pop1: 18,420 (2021)
Ethnic group.region2: Quebec
Ethnic group.pop2: 16,400
Ethnic group.region3: United States (Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine), self-identified
Ethnic group.pop3: 2,544 (2000)

Article

30 sections

Contents

Names
Western Abenaki
Wabanaki Nation
Eastern Abenaki
Location
Language
History
Abenaki wars
Canada
United States
Maine: federally recognized tribes
Vermont: state-recognized tribes
"Race-shifting" controversy
New Hampshire and minority recognition
Culture
Gender, food, division of labor, and other cultural traits
Storytelling
Mythology
Ethnobotany
Population and epidemics
Fiction
Nonfiction
Maps
Notable historic Abenaki people
Notable contemporary Abenaki people
See also
Footnotes
Bibliography
Further reading
External links

While Abenaki peoples share cultural traits, they historically did not have a centralized government. They came together as a post-contact community after their original tribes were decimated by colonization, disease, and warfare.