The Pennacook , also known by the names Penacook and Pennacock , were Algonquian indigenous people who lived in what is now Massachusetts , New Hampshire , and southern Maine . They were not a united tribe but a network of politically and culturally allied communities. Penacook was also the name of a specific Native village in what is now Concord, New Hampshire .
139-548: The Pennacook were related to but not a part of the original Wabanaki Confederacy , which includes the Miꞌkmaq , Maliseet , Passamaquoddy , and Penobscot peoples. Pennacook is also written as Penacook and Pennacock. The name Pennacook roughly translates (based on Abenaki cognates) as "at the bottom of the hill." Historian David Stewart-Smith suggests that the Penacook were Central Abenaki people. Their southern neighbors were
278-568: A Mohawk convert to Catholicism. She moved with relatives to Caughnawaga on the north side of the river after her parents' deaths. She was known for her faith and a shrine was built to her in New York. In the late 20th century, she was beatified and was canonized in October 2012 as the first Native American Catholic saint. She is also recognized by the Episcopal and Lutheran churches. After
417-650: A family would. The age rank was based on the tribes proximity to the Caughnawaga Council, with the Penobscots being the closest. Before the massacre of the Norridgewock and the slow abandonment of their settlements and integration into their neighbor tribes, they were once seen as an older brother to the Penobscot. This system was not seen as something indicating superiority per se, but rather
556-689: A farming settlement, where the Dutch took over some of the former Mohawk maize fields in the floodplain along the river. Through trading, the Mohawk and Dutch became allies of a kind. During their alliance, the Mohawks allowed Dutch Protestant missionary Johannes Megapolensis to come into their communities and teach the Christian message. He operated from the Fort Nassau area for about six years, writing
695-455: A formal "grandchief" or single leader of the whole confederacy, and thus never had a single seat of government . Though Madockawando was treated as such in the Treaty of Casco, and his descendants such as Wabanaki Lieutenant-Governor John Neptune would maintain an elevated status in the confederacy, both officially had the same amount of power as any other sakom. This would continue throughout
834-462: A great fence; and in addition they put in the center a great wigwam within the fence; and also they made a whip and placed it with their father. Then whoever disobeyed him would be whipped. Whichever of his children was within the fence - all of them had to obey him. And he always had to kindle their great fire, so that it would not burn out. This is where the Wampum Laws originated. That fence was
973-653: A large group of Iroquois out of New York to what became the reserve of the Six Nations of the Grand River , Ontario . Brant continued as a political leader of the Mohawks for the rest of his life. This land extended 100 miles from the head of the Grand River to the head of Lake Erie where it discharges. Another Mohawk war chief, John Deseronto , led a group of Mohawk to the Bay of Quinte . Other Mohawks settled in
1112-472: A military advantage over English colonists from New England , but he decided to make peace with them rather than lose more of his people through warfare. They were caught up in King Philip's War , however, and lost more members. Although Wonalancet , the chief who succeeded Passaconaway, tried to maintain neutrality in the war, bands of Pennacook in western Massachusetts did not. After King Philip's War,
1251-759: A number of ways but is most often translated into "Dawnland". The political union of the Wabanaki Confederacy was known by many names, but it is remembered as "Wabanaki" , which shares a common etymological origin with the name of the "Abenaki" people. All Abenaki are Wabanaki, but not all Wabanaki are Abenaki. The name of the political union during the time it existed had gone by other names both shared and unique to its members. The Mi'kmaq, Passamaquoddy, and Wolastoqey called it Buduswagan which translates into "convention council." The Passamaquoddy also had their own unique name being Tolakutinaya which translates into "be related to one another." Finally,
1390-594: A positive encounter on Pemetic, meeting with sakom (title for community leaders) Asticou in his and his peoples' summer village. Asticou was a sakom with regional power over the eastern door of Mawooshen. He was subsidiary to sakom Bashaba, who led the entire Mawooshen Confederacy. Champlain went upriver to the Passamaquoddy, where he established another post at present-day Saint Croix Island, Maine . The French colonial region known as Acadia developed on existing tribal territory. The ethnic French of Acadia and
1529-539: A record in 1644 of his observations of the Mohawk, their language (which he learned), and their culture. While he noted their ritual of torture of captives, he recognized that their society had few other killings, especially compared to the Netherlands of that period. The trading relations between the Mohawk and Dutch helped them maintain peace even during the periods of Kieft's War and the Esopus Wars , when
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#17327810184511668-449: A sakom died, newly elected sakoms would be confirmed by allied Wabanaki tribes who would visit following a year of mourning in the village. An event to appoint a new sakom, known as a Nská'wehadin or "assembly", could last several weeks. Tribes had a lot of autonomy, but they built a culture which normalized being involved in each other's political affairs to help maintain unity and cooperation. This event would continue until 1861 when
1807-458: A sakom was part of also had a "kinship" status, being that they are brothers some members were older and younger. The lack of a single centralized capital complemented the Wabanaki government style, as sakoms were able to shift their political influence to any part of the nation that needed it. This could mean bringing leadership near or away from conflict zones. When a formal internal agreement
1946-573: A significant role as a political hub—for the future Wabanaki Confederacy, for example. In 1500, Portuguese explorer Gaspar Corte-Real reached Wabanaki lands. He captured and enslaved at least 57 people from modern-day Newfoundland and Nova Scotia , selling them in Europe to help finance his trip. The rich fishing waters full of cod in and around the Gulf of Saint Lawrence attracted many Europeans to this area. By 1504 French Bretons were fishing off
2085-519: A single shot, after which one of his men killed the third. The Iroquois turned and fled. This action set the tone for poor French-Iroquois relations for the rest of the century, with conflicts arising over territory and the beaver trade. The next year the Battle of Sorel started on 19 June 1610. Champlain had convinced some tribes to fight in the war, amongst them was Wendat , Algonquin and Innu peoples, with some French regulars. They fought against
2224-416: A successful guerrilla war for the following two decades, never being caught, and successfully deterring settlers entering his lands. Kinship metaphors like "Brother", "Father", or "Uncle" in their original linguistic context were much more complex than when they were when translated into English or French. Such terms were used to understand the status and role of a diplomatic relationship. For instance, for
2363-606: A threat to the sovereignty of Indigenous nations and part of a larger pattern of settler self-indigenization. William James Sidis hypothesized in his book The Tribes and the States (1935) that the Pennacook tribes greatly influenced the democratic ideals which European settlers instituted in New England. The Boy Scouts of America 's Boston -based Spirit of Adventure Council adopted the name "Pennacook" for its Order of
2502-657: A veteran of the French and Indian War and ally of the rebels, offered his services to the Americans, receiving an officer's commission from the Continental Congress . He led Oneida warriors against the British. During this war, Johannes Tekarihoga was the civil leader of the Mohawk. He died around 1780. Catherine Crogan , a clan mother and wife of Mohawk war chief Joseph Brant , named her brother Henry Crogan as
2641-558: A way to perceive a relationship in a manner that reflected the cultural norms of the Wabanaki. When the Wabanaki called the French Canadian governor and King of France "our father", it was a relationship built upon a sense of respect and protective care that reflected a Wabanaki father-son relationship. This was not well understood by diplomats from France and England who did not live with the peoples, seeing such terms as acknowledgment of subservience. Miscommunication over these terms
2780-712: The Gaspé Bay . These are now believed to have been independent of the Five Nations of Iroquois that developed the Iroquois League further south. By the early 1600s, the St. Lawrence Iroquoian villages were abandoned. Historians now believe they may have been defeated by the Mohawk in competition over hunting. They may also have been defeated by Algonquins from further east in the St. Lawrence Valley. Cartier traded with
2919-555: The Great Lakes and Saint Lawrence River region. By the 1660s, tribes of Western Abenaki peoples as far south as Massachusetts had joined the league. This defensive alliance would not only prove to be successful, but it helped repair the relationship among the Eastern Algonquians, promoting greater political cooperation in the coming decades. This growing tension with two large and organized political adversaries,
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#17327810184513058-746: The Massachusett and Wampanoag . Pennacook territory bordered the Connecticut River in the West, Lake Winnipesauke in the north, the Piscataqua to the east, and the villages of the closely allied Pawtucket confederation along the southern Merrimack River to the south. The Pennacook homeland was built around the upper Merrimack and the major towns at Amoskeag Falls (now Manchester) and Pennacook (now Concord ), which served as major population hubs and later fallback centers for people across
3197-493: The Mohawk people at present-day Sorel-Tracy , Quebec . Champlain's forces were armed with the arquebus . After engaging their opponent, they slaughtered or captured nearly all of the Mohawk. The battle ended major hostilities with the Mohawk for twenty years. In and around this time, more French arrived as traders in Nova Scotia. The French migrants formed settlements such as Port-Royal . At many of these settlements,
3336-572: The Odanak First Nation , an Abenaki government in Canada. Several groups in present-day Vermont claim to be Pennacook bands. The Odanak Abenaki Band Council has denounced them. Contemporary scholarship indicates that most members of such groups have a single Indigenous ancestor many generations removed or no Indigenous ancestry at all. Indigenous activists and their allies strongly critique this phenomenon, sometimes called race-shifting, as
3475-599: The Oka Crisis blockades in 1990 and the Caledonia Ontario, Douglas Creek occupation of a construction site in summer of 2006. On May 13, 1974, at 4:00 a.m, Mohawks from the Kahnawake and Akwesasne reservations repossessed traditional Mohawk land near Old Forge, New York, occupying Moss Lake, an abandoned girls camp. The New York state government attempted to shut the operation down, but after negotiation,
3614-572: The Pequot and other Algonquian Indians of coastal New England sought an alliance with the Mohawks against English colonists of that region. Disrupted by their losses to smallpox, the Mohawks refused the alliance. They killed the Pequot sachem Sassacus who had come to them for refuge, and returned part of his remains to the English governor of Connecticut, John Winthrop , as proof of his death. In
3753-537: The Treaty of Casco , which forced all the tribes to recognize the property rights of English colonists in southern Maine. In return, English colonists recognized "Wabanaki" sovereignty by committing themselves to pay Madockawando , as a "grandchief" of the Wabanaki alliance, a symbolic annual fee of "a peck of corn for every English Family." They also recognized the Saco River as the border. The Caughnawaga Council
3892-637: The United States District Court for the Western District of New York . The main structures of social organization are the clans ( ken'tara'okòn:'a ). The number of clans vary among the Haudenosaunee; the Mohawk have three: Bear ( Ohkwa:ri ), Turtle ( A'nó:wara ), and Wolf ( Okwaho ). Clans are nominally the descendants of a single female ancestor, with women possessing the leadership role. Each member of
4031-676: The War of 1812 . In 1971, the Mohawk Warrior Society , also Rotisken’rakéhte in the Mohawk language, was founded in Kahnawake . The duties of the Warrior Society are to use roadblocks, evictions, and occupations to gain rights for their people, and these tactics are also used among the warriors to protect the environment from pollution. The notable movements started by the Mohawk Warrior Society have been
4170-666: The World Trade Center buildings that were destroyed during the September 11 attacks , helped rescue people from the burning towers in 2001, and helped dismantle the remains of the building afterwards. Approximately 200 Mohawk ironworkers (out of 2,000 total ironworkers at the site) participated in rebuilding the One World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan. They typically drive the 360 miles from
4309-575: The 1930s to the 1970s on special labor contracts as specialists and participated in building the Empire State Building . The construction companies found that the Mohawk ironworkers did not fear heights or dangerous conditions. Their contracts offered lower than average wages to the First Nations people and limited labor union membership. About 10% of all ironworkers in the New York area are Mohawks, down from about 15% earlier in
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4448-526: The 20th century. The work and home life of Mohawk ironworkers was documented in Don Owen 's 1965 National Film Board of Canada documentary High Steel . The Mohawk community that formed in a compact area of Brooklyn , which they called "Little Caughnawaga", after their homeland, is documented in Reaghan Tarbell's Little Caughnawaga: To Brooklyn and Back , shown on PBS in 2008. This community
4587-766: The Akwesasne Reservation in Franklin County under the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA). According to the terms of the 1993 compact, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the New York State Police and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribal Gaming Commission were vested with gaming oversight. Law enforcement responsibilities fell under the state police, with some law enforcement matters left to
4726-533: The Alemousiski would soon come into permanent contact with English settlers moving into Massachusetts , as well as their lands in southern Maine under the colonizing efforts of people directed by Ferdinando Gorges and John Mason, respectively. Pannaway Plantation near modern-day Kittery, Maine would both be founded in 1623. Originally founded as fishing and lumber villages, over the decades they developed larger economies and became major population centers in
4865-645: The Arrow lodge. Wabanaki Confederacy The Wabanaki Confederacy ( Wabenaki, Wobanaki , translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner"; also: Wabanakia , "Dawnland" ) is a North American First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal Eastern Algonquian nations: the Abenaki of St. Francis , Mi'kmaq , Wolastoqiyik , Passamaquoddy ( Peskotomahkati ) and Penobscot . There were more tribes, along with many bands, that were once part of
5004-764: The British Crown), Conrad Weiser (on behalf of the colony of Pennsylvania ), and Hendrick Theyanoguin (for the Mohawk). Johnson called the Albany Congress in June 1754, to discuss with the Iroquois chiefs repair of the damaged diplomatic relationship between the British and the Mohawk, along with securing their cooperation and support in fighting the French, in engagements in North America. During
5143-645: The British Crown. When the Acadians in 1755 again refused to swear allegiance to the Crown, about 6,000 were deported to British North America , France and Louisiana . Quebec was taken by the British in 1759 and the French government effectively lost all influence in North America . Mohawk nation The Mohawk , also known by their own name, Kanien'kehà:ka ( lit. ' People of
5282-657: The British Superintendent of Indian Affairs, built his first house on the north bank of the Mohawk River almost opposite Warrensbush and established the settlement of Johnstown . The Mohawk were among the four Iroquois people that allied with the British during the American Revolutionary War . They had a long trading relationship with the British and hoped to gain support to prohibit colonists from encroaching into their territory in
5421-523: The British ceded their claim to land in the colonies, and the Americans forced their allies, the Mohawks and others, to give up their territories in New York. Most of the Mohawks migrated to Canada, where the Crown gave them some land in compensation. The Mohawks at the Upper Castle fled to Fort Niagara , while most of those at the Lower Castle went to villages near Montreal . Joseph Brant led
5560-724: The Canadian Indian Act , Mohawk communities have been dealing with considerable internal conflict since the late 20th century. The Mohawk language , or its native name, Kanyen'kéha , is a Northern Iroquoian language . Like many Indigenous languages of the Americas , Mohawk is a polysynthetic language. Written in the Roman alphabet, its orthography was standardized in 1993 at the Mohawk Language Standardization Conference. In
5699-447: The Canadian and U.S. governments usually prefer to deal exclusively. The self-governing communities are listed below, grouped by broad geographical cluster, with notes on the character of community governance found in each. Given increased activism for land claims, a rise in tribal revenues due to establishment of gaming on certain reserves or reservations, competing leadership, traditional government jurisdiction, issues of taxation, and
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5838-405: The Confederacy, often being older men who were called nebáulinowak or "riddle men." "They have reproached me a hundred times because we fear our Captains, while they laugh at and make sport of theirs. All the authority of their chief is in his tongue's end; for he is powerful in so far as he is eloquent; and even if he kills himself talking and haranguing he will not be obeyed unless he please
5977-522: The Confederation. Native tribes such as the Norridgewock , Alemousiski, Pennacook, Sokoki, and Canibas , through massacres, tribal consolidation, and ethnic label shifting were absorbed into the five larger national identities. Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Wabanaki , are located in and named for the area which they call Wabanakik ("Dawnland"), roughly the area that became the French colony of Acadia . The territory boundaries encompass present-day Maine , New Hampshire , and Vermont , in
6116-406: The Dept. of Interior taking other land into trust for federally recognized 'tribes', which would establish the land as sovereign Native American territory, on which they might establish new gaming facilities. The other suit contends that the Indian Gaming Regulatory Act violates the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution as it is applied in the State of New York. In 2010 it was pending in
6255-403: The Dutch fought localized battles with other native peoples. In addition, Dutch trade partners equipped the Mohawk with guns to fight against other First Nations who were allied with the French , including the Ojibwe , Huron-Wendat , and Algonquin . In 1645, the Mohawk made peace for a time with the French, who were trying to keep a piece of the fur trade. During the Pequot War (1634–1638),
6394-403: The French also conducted fur trading . During this time the Mohawk fought with the Huron in the Beaver Wars for control of the fur trade with the Europeans. Their Jesuit missionaries were active among First Nations and Native Americans, seeking converts to Catholicism . In 1614, the Dutch opened a trading post at Fort Nassau , New Netherland . The Dutch initially traded for furs with
6533-411: The French fur trading site of Tadoussac in 1599. During one of his trips back in 1603 he would bring Samuel de Champlain with him, and he would lead to a new era of Wabanaki/French relationships. When Champlain established contact during an expedition to the Mawooshen in Pesamkuk (present-day Mount Desert Island , Maine) in 1604, he noted that the people had quite a few European goods. Champlain had
6672-563: The French traded weapons and other European goods to the local Mi'kmaq . The influx of European goods changed the social and economic landscape, as local tribes became more dependent on European goods. This new economic reality harmed their existing kinship ties among clans and reduced the reciprocal exchange that had supported the local economy . Subsistence hunting shifted into a competition for animals like beaver and for access to European settlements. Population movements, and intraband and interband disputes were affected. Allied with
6811-404: The Haudenosaunee. In the Wabanaki context, such terms indicated concepts like the Penobscot looking out for the well-being of the younger brothers, while younger brothers would support and respect the wisdom of an older brother. The idea of being related helped establish unity and cooperation in Wabanaki culture, using family as a metaphor to overcome factionalism and to quell internal conflicts like
6950-468: The Interior disapproved this action although the Mohawks gained Governor Eliot Spitzer 's concurrence, subject to the negotiation and approval of either an amendment to the current compact or a new compact. Interior rejected the Mohawks' application to take this land into trust. In the early 21st century, two legal cases were pending that related to Native American gambling and land claims in New York. The State of New York has expressed similar objections to
7089-404: The Iroquois and especially English colonists, over the next 20 years would lead to an Algonquian uprising during King Philip's War (1675-1676), followed by the First Abenaki War (1675-1678). Soon after the many Algonquian tribes fought together in an effort to strengthen both defensive and diplomatic power, a push to make a formal political union would take place leading to the development of
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#17327810184517228-410: The Kahnawake reserve on the St. Lawrence River in Quebec to work the week in lower Manhattan and then return on the weekend to be with their families. A selection of portraits of these Mohawk ironworkers were featured in an online photo essay for Time Magazine in September 2012. Both the elected chiefs and the Warrior Society have encouraged gambling as a means of ensuring tribal self-sufficiency on
7367-449: The Kanienʼkehá:ka people now live in settlements in northern New York State and southeastern Canada. Many Kanienʼkehá:ka communities have two sets of chiefs, who are in some sense competing governmental rivals. One group are the hereditary chiefs ( royaner ), nominated by Clan Mother matriarchs in the traditional Mohawk fashion. Mohawks of most of the reserves have established constitutions with elected chiefs and councilors, with whom
7506-401: The Kanienʼkehá꞉ka as Egil or Maqua . The French colonists adapted these latter terms as Aignier and Maqui , respectively. They also referred to the people by the generic Iroquois , a French derivation of the Algonquian term for the Five Nations, meaning "Big Snakes". The Algonquians and Iroquois were traditional competitors and enemies. In the upper Hudson and Mohawk Valley regions,
7645-404: The Keepers of the Eastern Door who are the guardians of the Iroquois Confederation against invasions from the east. Today, Mohawk people belong to the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne , Mohawks of the Bay of Quinte First Nation , Mohawks of Kahnawà:ke , Mohawks of Kanesatake , Six Nations of the Grand River , and Saint Regis Mohawk Tribe , a federally recognized tribe in the United States. At
7784-412: The Merrimack Valley and its tributaries like the Souhegan, Piscataquog, and Suncook, would have been densely populated, the environment carefully maintained. David Stewart-Smith (1998:19) estimated that the Merrimack Valley had 8,000–25,000 people before the epidemics, with a median of around 16,500 for the central area around Pennacook. The major and permanent Pennacook towns and villages were built along
7923-561: The Merrimack. Many Pennacook villages were built just above natural waterfalls that trapped fish and made it easier to catch them in the late spring. Fiddlehead season would be followed by others still known today, like blueberry and raspberry seasons. During the summers, families would disperse to summer villages and hunting camps. Women did most of the work of building and maintaining homes as well as farming. Their main crops were varieties of maize/corn and squash, which they planted along rivers and in meadows. While they found it difficult to clear
8062-452: The Mi'kmaq, and returned to France with furs of North American animals such as beaver, which became high-demand items. Cartier brought back numerous goods from the First Nations from his three trips to the St. Lawrence, but the furs had the greatest demand. French colonists went to the area to work in what became the North American fur trade . More Europeans entered Wabanaki lands over the coming decades, where they started as traders to meet
8201-440: The Miꞌkmaq in the Wabanaki Confederacy. In 1715 the Miꞌkmaq attacked fishing vessels off Sable Island . The Miꞌkmaq declared "the Lands are [ours] and [we] can make War and peace when [we] please". The Wabanaki Confederacy did not fight under the leadership of a commander, but nevertheless implemented a strategy that was aimed to clear their land of intruders. Between 1722 and 1724 the Penobscot attacked Fort St. George four times,
8340-430: The Mohawk Valley. Joseph Brant acted as a war chief and successfully led raids against British and ethnic German colonists in the Mohawk Valley, who had been given land by the British administration near the rapids at present-day Little Falls, New York . A few prominent Mohawk, such as the sachem Little Abraham (Tyorhansera) at Fort Hunter, remained neutral throughout the war. Joseph Louis Cook (Akiatonharónkwen),
8479-460: The Mohawk in the New York colony. Many were baptized with English surnames, while others were given both first and surnames in English. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, the Mohawk and Abenaki First Nations in New England were involved in raids conducted by the French and English against each other's settlements during Queen Anne's War and other conflicts. They conducted a growing trade in captives, holding them for ransom. Neither of
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#17327810184518618-485: The Mohawk language, the Mohawk people call themselves the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka ("people of the flint"). The Mohawk became wealthy traders as other nations in their confederacy needed their flint for tool making. Their Algonquian -speaking neighbors (and competitors), the people of Muh-heck Haeek Ing ("food area place"), the Mohicans , referred to the people of Ka-nee-en Ka as Maw Unk Lin , meaning "bear people". The Dutch heard and wrote this term as Mohawk , and also referred to
8757-476: The Mohawks cultivated productive maize fields on the fertile floodplains along the Mohawk River, west of the Pine Bush . On June 28, 1609, a band of Hurons led Samuel De Champlain and his crew into Mohawk country, the Mohawks being completely unaware of this situation. De Champlain made it clear he wanted to strike the Mohawks down after their raids on the neighboring nations. On July 29, 1609, hundreds of Hurons and many of De Champlain's French crew fell back from
8896-401: The Mohawks destroyed it, killing several priests. Over time, some converted Mohawk relocated to Jesuit mission villages established south of Montreal on the St. Lawrence River in the early 1700s: Kahnawake (used to be spelled as Caughnawaga , named for the village of that name in the Mohawk Valley) and Kanesatake . These Mohawk were joined by members of other Indigenous peoples but dominated
9035-496: The Mohawks long had contact with the Algonquian-speaking Mohican people who occupied territory along the Hudson, as well as other Algonquian and Iroquoian peoples to the north around the Great Lakes . The Mohawks had extended their own influence into the St. Lawrence River Valley, which they maintained for hunting grounds. The Mohawk likely defeated the St. Lawrence Iroquoians in the 16th century, and kept control of their territory. In addition to hunting and fishing for centuries
9174-423: The Mohawks surprised by De Champlain's steel cuirass and helmet. One of the chiefs raised his bow at Champlain and the Indians. Champlain fired three shots that pierced the Mohawk chiefs' wooden armor, killing them instantly. The Mohawks stood in shock until they started flinging arrows at the crowd. A brawl began and the Mohawks fell back seeing the damage this new technology dealt on their chiefs and warriors. This
9313-518: The Penobscot would interchangeably call it either Bezegowak or Gizangowak which can be translated into "those united into one" and "completely united" respectively. Small-scale confederacies in and around what would become the Wabanaki Confederacy were common at the time of post- Viking European contact. The earliest known confederacy was the Mawooshen Confederacy located within the historic Eastern Penobscot cultural region. Its capital, Kadesquit , located around modern Bangor, Maine , would play
9452-482: The Pequot confederacy, in a war that lasted until 1671. In 1666, the French attacked the Mohawk in the central New York area, burning the three Mohawk villages south of the river and their stored food supply. One of the conditions of the peace was that the Mohawk accept Jesuit missionaries. Beginning in 1669, missionaries attempted to convert Mohawks to Christianity, operating a mission in Ossernenon 9 miles west of present-day Auriesville, New York until 1684, when
9591-451: The Portuguese side of the Inter caetera , entitling them to the land. Portuguese explorer João Álvares Fagundes attempted to establish the first European colony in Wabanaki lands in 1525. He brought families totaling almost 200 people, mostly from the Azores , and founded a fishing settlement in Cape Breton, within Mi'kmaq territory. The settlement lasted at least until 1570, as fishing ships brought news of them back to Europe. The fate of
9730-489: The Town of Palatine in Montgomery County, New York which they named Kanatsiohareke . It marked a return to their ancestral land. Mohawks came from Kahnawake and other reserves to work in the construction industry in New York City in the early through the mid-20th century. They had also worked in construction in Quebec. The men were ironworkers who helped build bridges and skyscrapers, and who were called skywalkers because of their seeming fearlessness. They worked from
9869-421: The United States, and New Brunswick , mainland Nova Scotia , Cape Breton Island , Prince Edward Island and some of Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River , Anticosti , and Newfoundland in Canada. The word Wabanaki is derived from the Algonquian root word "wab" , combined with the word for "land", being "aki" . "Wab" is a root that is used for the following concepts: Waban-aki can be translated into
10008-539: The Wabanaki Confederacy stretches from Newfoundland, Canada , to Massachusetts, United States . Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy participated in these seven major wars: During this period, their population was radically decimated due to many decades of warfare , but also because of famines and devastating epidemics of infectious disease . The number of European settlers increased from about 300 in 1650 to about 6,650 in 1750. European diseases such as smallpox and measles were introduced. The Mi'kmaq were among
10147-632: The Wabanaki Confederacy. The First Abenaki War saw native peoples throughout the Eastern Algonquian lands face a common and powerful enemy, encroaching English colonists. The fighting led to large-scale depopulation of English colonial settlements north of the Saco River in the district of Maine , while Wabanaki people south of the river like the Armouchiquois, would be forced from their ancestral lands. The political situation
10286-675: The Wabanaki ever saw themselves as subservient to the Ottawa in any way, this was the same with the French. The Ottawa were largely seen as a form of third party political oversight. Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy were the: Nations in the Confederacy also allied with the Innu of Nitassinan , the Algonquin people and with the Iroquoian -speaking Wyandot people . The homeland of
10425-788: The Wabanakis attacked British colonial settlements along Kennebec River , while western Maine was attacked by the Pigwacket and the Ammoscocongon. The Wabanaki Confederacy destroyed the Brunswick settlement as well as other British colonial settlements on the banks of the Androscoggin River . Prior to the Expulsion of the Acadians (1755–1764), the Acadians living in Nova Scotia largely refused to swear allegiance to
10564-686: The Wolastoquiyik (Maleseet) and Passamaquoddy, the Mi'kmaq fought with their Western Mawooshen (Western Abenaki/Penobscot) neighbors for goods as trading relations broke down. This power imbalance resulted in war starting around 1607. In 1615 the Mi'kmaq and their allies killed the Mawooshen Grand Chief Bashabas in his village. War was costly for the Mi'kmaq and their allies, but especially for their southern Abenaki/Penobscot adversaries. Many Abenaki villages faced great losses from
10703-407: The [Indians]." Wabanaki sakoms held regular conventions at their various "council fires" (seats of government) whenever there was a need to call each other together. In a council fire, they would sit in a large rectangle with all members facing each other. Each sakom member would have a chance to speak and be listened to, with the understanding that they would do the same for the others. Each tribe
10842-430: The area near Ticonderoga and Crown Point, New York (historians dispute the site), Champlain and his party encountered a group of Iroquois (likely mostly Mohawk , the easternmost nation). In a battle that began the next day, 250 Iroquois advanced on Champlain's position, and one of his guides pointed out the three chiefs. In his account of the battle, Champlain recounts firing his arquebus and killing two of them with
10981-489: The children of Pawtucket Bashaba Nanepashemet in the 17th century. Because decisions to ally and become a part of such alliances were largely in the hands of the leaders of individual bands, the membership of these confederations and alliances fluctuated regularly. Pennacook people were semi-sedentary. Families and bands had permanent claims to territory, and their hierarchical political structure from locally representative sagamores to more regionally representative sachems
11120-545: The coast of Nova Scotia. Norman fishermen began to arrive around 1507, and they too would start kidnapping people from the surrounding land. This would hurt relations with some tribes. But the fishermen also started slowly introducing European trade goods to the Wabanaki, returning to Europe with North American trade goods. After the establishment of the Treaty of Tordesillas by which Catholic Europe established spheres of influence for exploration, Portuguese explorers commonly believed that Newfoundland and Wabanaki lands were on
11259-473: The colonial governments generally negotiated for common captives, and it was up to local European communities to raise funds to ransom their residents. In some cases, French and Abenaki raiders transported captives from New England to Montreal and the Mohawk mission villages. The Mohawk at Kahnawake adopted numerous young women and children to add to their own members, having suffered losses to disease and warfare. For instance, among them were numerous survivors of
11398-626: The colonists of New England enslaved some Pennacook captives. Some joined the Schaghticoke . Other Pennacooks fled to the Hudson Valley and on to Quebec . North-bound refugees eventually merged with other member tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy. In the north, some Pennacook merged into the Pigwacket people, an Abenaki group. Gordon M. Day suggested that Pennacook moved north to Odanak Reserve in Quebec, and their descendants belong to
11537-613: The community. As required by IGRA, the compact was approved by the United States Department of the Interior before it took effect. There were several extensions and amendments to this compact, but not all of them were approved by the U.S. Department of the Interior . On June 12, 2003, the New York Court of Appeals affirmed the lower courts' rulings that Governor Cuomo exceeded his authority by entering into
11676-628: The compact absent legislative authorization and declared the compact void On October 19, 2004, Governor George Pataki signed a bill passed by the State Legislature that ratified the compact as being nunc pro tunc , with some additional minor changes. In 2008 the Mohawk Nation was working to obtain approval to own and operate a casino in Sullivan County, New York , at Monticello Raceway . The U.S. Department of
11815-430: The confederacy agreement....There would be no arguing with one another again. They had to live like brothers and sisters who had the same parent....And their parent, he was the great chief at Caughnawaga. And the fence and the whip were the Wampum Laws. Whoever disobeyed them, the tribes together had to watch him. The Wabanaki Confederacy were governed by a council of elected sakoms, tribal leaders who were frequently also
11954-417: The confederacy. Wampum belts called gelusewa'ngan , meaning "speech", played an important role in maintaining Wabanaki political institutions. One of the last keepers of the "Wampum Record" and one of the last Wabanaki/Passamaquoddy delegates to go to Caughnawaga was Sepiel Selmo. Keepers of the wampum record were called putuwosuwin which involved a mix of oral history with understanding the context behind
12093-559: The elected chiefs have tended to be associated (though in a much looser and general way) with democratic , legislative and Canadian governmental values. On October 15, 1993, Governor Mario Cuomo entered into the "Tribal-State Compact Between the St. Regis Mohawk First Nation and the State of New York". The compact allowed the Indigenous people to conduct gambling, including games such as baccarat , blackjack , craps and roulette , on
12232-481: The entire history of the Wabanaki, as the confederacy remained decentralized so as to never give more power to any of the member tribes. This meant that all major decisions had to be thoroughly debated by sakoms at council fires, which created a strong political culture empowering the best debaters. The four/fourteen tribes were not completely independent from each other. Not only was it possible for sanctions to be placed on each other for creating problems, but also when
12371-603: The event that took place at the Caughnawaga Council that led to the formation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. Silently they sat for seven days. Everyday, no one spoke. That was called, "The Wigwam is Silent." Every councilor had to think about what he was going to say when they made the laws. All of them thought about how the fighting could be stopped. Next they opened up the wigwam. It was now called "Every One of Them Talks." And during that time they began their council....When all had finished talking, they decided to make
12510-428: The fall of New Netherland to England in 1664, the Mohawk in New York traded with the English and sometimes acted as their allies. During King Philip's War , Metacom , sachem of the warring Wampanoag Pokanoket , decided to winter with his warriors near Albany in 1675. Encouraged by the English, the Mohawk attacked and killed all but 40 of the 400 Pokanoket. From the 1690s, Protestant missionaries sought to convert
12649-401: The first tribes to establish trade with European settlers and helped to establish a barter system along the coast. Settlers and natives communicated in a language that mixed French and Mikmawisimk . The Miꞌkmaq traded beaver , otter , marten , seal , moose , and deer furs with European settlers. The French missionary Chrestien Le Clercq complained that "they ridicule and laugh at
12788-490: The fledgling economy. By the 1640s, internal conflicts within the region started to make Iroquois advances harder to combat for what would become the Wabanaki peoples, but also the Algonquian (tribe west of Quebec City), the Innu , and French to manage separately. Aided by French Jesuits , this led to the formation of a large Algonquian league against the Iroquois, who were making significant territorial land gains around
12927-576: The flint ' ), are an Indigenous people of North America and the easternmost nation of the Haudenosaunee , or Iroquois Confederacy. Mohawk are an Iroquoian -speaking people with communities in southeastern Canada and northern New York State , primarily around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River . As one of the five original members of the Iroquois League , the Mohawk are known as
13066-633: The founding of a Jesuit mission in 1613 in the present-day location on Somes Sound , Maine. The following year the mission village was destroyed by Captain Samuel Argall during a resupply visit to nearby English fishing outposts. French and English colonists would long compete for territory in North America. In the same year, Captain Thomas Hunt kidnapped 27 people from present-day Massachusetts to sell as slaves in Spain. The famous Tisquantum
13205-429: The governors of the drainage basin their village was built on. Sakoms themselves were more of respected listeners and debaters than simply rulers. Wabanaki politics was fundamentally rooted on reaching a consensus on issues, often after much debate. Sakoms frequently used stylized metaphorical speech at council fires, trying to win over others sakoms. Sakoms who were skilled at debate often became quite influential in
13344-443: The growing fur demand in Europe. The French established permanent trading operations with the Wabanaki around 1581 to obtain furs. Henry III of France granted a fur monopoly to French merchants in 1588. This would lead to the desire for the French to establish permanent trade posts in and around Wabanaki lands for furs. French fur traders like François Gravé Du Pont would often travel to Wabanaki lands to obtain furs, establishing
13483-554: The last Nská'wehadin was held in Old Town, Maine , shortly before the end of the confederacy. Occasionally some sakoms were known to ignore the will of the confederacy, most often the case for tribes on the border of European powers who had the most to lose during peace after war. Gray Lock , who was among the most successful wartime Wabanaki sakoms, refused to make peace after the 1722-1726 Dummer's War , given that his Vermont lands were being settled by English colonists. He would hold
13622-547: The late fall before families returned to the more permanent winter camps to wait out the long winter. In addition to being farmers, hunters, and foragers, it is important to remember that the Pennacook and the peoples of the Merrimack River Valley were also long-distance traders, and their major towns of Pennacook and Amoskeag drew people from around the region in the late spring and summers. For more, see Michael Caduto's 2004 book, A Time Before New Hampshire and
13761-518: The local Mohican, who occupied the territory along the Hudson River. Following a raid in 1626 when the Mohawks resettled along the south side of the Mohawk River, in 1628, they mounted an attack against the Mohican, pushing them back to the area of present-day Connecticut . The Mohawks gained a near-monopoly in the fur trade with the Dutch by prohibiting the nearby Algonquian-speaking peoples to
13900-498: The major rivers, and many were on the east side of the Merrimack, ostensibly for protection from the west. Life revolved around the seasons, and spring would begin with women collecting maple sap to make maple sugar. Men would return to hunting grounds and burn their grounds to turn over nutrients in the soils for later cultivation. In late spring the rivers and creeks would swell as the great fish like salmon and shad made their way up
14039-424: The massive old-growth trees, the Pennacook were experts at manipulating beavers to move their dams and ponds up and down creeks and brooks, thereby clearing and opening up land for farms that would be essential to the first Europeans who arrived and found cleared fields ready for cultivation. Many of these fields were scattered with the bones of the Pennacook who had recently died of smallpox or other diseases. The fall
14178-467: The mission, daunted by what lay ahead. Sixty Huron Indians, De Champlain, and two Frenchmen saw some Mohawks in a lake near Ticonderoga ; the Mohawks spotted them as well. De Champlain and his crew fell back, then advanced to the Mohawk barricade after landing on a beach. They met the Mohawks at the barricade; 200 warriors advanced behind four chiefs. They were equally astonished to see each other— De Champlain surprised at their stature, confidence, and dress;
14317-614: The more than 100 captives taken in the Deerfield raid in western Massachusetts. The minister of Deerfield was ransomed and returned to Massachusetts, but his daughter was adopted by a Mohawk family and ultimately assimilated and married a Mohawk man. During the era of the French and Indian War (also known as the Seven Years' War ), Anglo-Mohawk partnership relations were maintained by men such as Sir William Johnson in New York (for
14456-589: The most sumptuous and magnificent of our buildings". In 1711 the Acadians joined the Wabanaki Confederacy, when Fort Anne was besieged. The British proceeded to raid the coastal settlements, demanding an oath of allegiance from the Acadians. When British settlers encroached on the territory of the Abenaki , Penobscot , and the Passamaquoddy , these First Nations joined the Wolastoqiyik and
14595-473: The new Tekarihoga. In retaliation for Brant's raids in the valley, the rebel colonists organized Sullivan's Expedition . It conducted extensive raids against other Iroquois settlements in central and western New York, destroying 40 villages, crops, and winter stores. Many Mohawk and other Iroquois migrated to Canada for refuge near Fort Niagara , struggling to survive the winter. After the American victory,
14734-447: The north or east to trade with them but did not entirely control this. European contact resulted in a devastating smallpox epidemic among the Mohawk in 1635; this reduced their population by 63%, from 7,740 to 2,830, as they had no immunity to the new disease. By 1642 they had regrouped from four into three villages, recorded by Catholic missionary priest Isaac Jogues in 1642 as Ossernenon , Andagaron , and Tionontoguen , all along
14873-406: The other tribes in the Wabanaki the Penobscot were called the ksés'i'zena or "our elder brother". The Passamaquoddy, Wolastoqiyik, and Mi'kmaq in this order of "age" were called ndo'kani'mi'zena or "our younger brother". The Wolastoqiyik referred to the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy as ksés'i'zena and the Mi'kmaq as ndo'kani'mi'zena . Concepts like this were also found in other confederacies like
15012-470: The other's villages along with organizing inter-tribal marriages, and a large-scale defensive alliance to fend off attacks in their now shared territory. Madockawando for instance would later move from Penobscot lands to Wolastoqey lands, living in their political hub of Meductic until his death. These events would lead to the formal creation of what is now called the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Passamaquoddy wampum record or Wapapi Akonutomakonol tells about
15151-514: The peoples of Wabanaki coexisted in the same territory with independent, yet allied governments. Champlain continued to establish settlements throughout Wabanaki territory, including Saint John (1604) and Quebec City (1608), among others. The trade and military relations between the French and the local Algonquin tribes, including the Mawooshen and later Wabanaki, lasted until the end of the French and Indian/Seven Years' War . Asticou approved
15290-401: The placement of wampum on the belts. Wampum shells arranged on strings in such a manner, that certain combinations suggested certain sentences or certain ideas to the narrator, who, of course, knew his record by heart and was merely aided by the association of the shell combinations in his mind with incidents of the tale or record which he was rendering. What was not recorded through wampum
15429-473: The region during the colonial period. The Pennacook were a loose and fluid confederacy of village communities. Pennacook was a specific community within this confederacy that also included Accominta, Agawam , Amoskeag, Coosuc , Cowasack , Nashua , Naumkeag , Newickawanoc, Ossipee , Piscataway , Piscatequa, Souhegan, Squamscot, Wambesit, Washacum, Winnepesaukee, Wachusett, and other villages. The children of Pennacook Sachem Passaconaway intermarried with
15568-432: The role of wampum council conduct being a major example. This political unit allowed for the safe passage of people through each of their territories (including camping and subsisting on the land), safer trade networks from the western agricultural centers to the eastern gathering economies (copper/pelts) through non-aggression pacts and sharing natural resources from their respected habitats, freedom to move to each and any of
15707-596: The second and third quarters of the 18th century, most of the Mohawks in the Province of New York lived along the Mohawk River at Canajoharie . A few lived at Schoharie , and the rest lived about 30 miles downstream at the Tionondorage Castle, also called Fort Hunter . These two major settlements were traditionally called the Upper Castle and the Lower Castle. The Lower Castle was almost contiguous with Sir Peter Warren 's Warrensbush. Sir William Johnson ,
15846-490: The settlement is unknown, but the people would have interacted with the local Mi'kmaq. Throughout the 1500s, Wabanaki people encountered many European fishermen along with explorers looking for the Northwest Passage. They were at risk of being captured and enslaved. For instance, Portuguese explorer Estevan Gomez reached Wabanaki lands in 1525, kidnapping a few dozen people and taking them back to Spain, where he
15985-421: The settlements by number. Many converted to Roman Catholicism. In the 1740s, Mohawk and French set up another village upriver, which is known as Akwesasne . Today a Mohawk reserve, it spans the St. Lawrence River and present-day international boundaries to New York, United States, where it is known as the St. Regis Mohawk Reservation . Kateri Tekakwitha , born at Ossernenon in the late 1650s, has become noted as
16124-636: The short-lived Popham Colony (1607–1608), who hoped to establish good relations with the local peoples by returning Tahánedo, but local tribes were uneasy about the English colony. In 2020 journalist Avery Yale Kamila wrote that the account of the Weymouth voyage has culinary significance because it "is the first time a European recorded the Native American use of nut milks and nut butters." Champlain forged strong French relations with Algonquin tribes up until his death in 1635. Somewhere in
16263-477: The south side of the Mohawk River from east to west. These were recorded by speakers of other languages with different spellings, and historians have struggled to reconcile various accounts, as well as to align them with archeological studies of the areas. For instance, Johannes Megapolensis , a Dutch minister, recorded the spelling of the same three villages as Asserué, Banagiro, and Thenondiogo. Late 20th-century archeological studies have determined that Ossernenon
16402-555: The state offered the Mohawk some land in Miner Lake, where they have since settled. The Mohawks have organized for more sovereignty at their reserves in Canada, pressing for authority over their people and lands. Tensions with the Quebec Provincial and national governments have been strained during certain protests, such as the Oka Crisis in 1990. In 1993, a group of Akwesasne Mohawks purchased 322 acres of land in
16541-720: The time of European contact, Mohawk people were based in the valley of the Mohawk River in present-day upstate New York, west of the Hudson River . Their territory ranged north to the St. Lawrence River , southern Quebec and eastern Ontario ; south to greater New Jersey and into Pennsylvania; eastward to the Green Mountains of Vermont ; and westward to the border with the Iroquoian Oneida Nation 's traditional homeland territory. Members of
16680-488: The various reserves or Indian reservations. Traditional chiefs have tended to oppose gaming on moral grounds and out of fear of corruption and organized crime. Such disputes have also been associated with religious divisions: the traditional chiefs are often associated with the Longhouse tradition, practicing consensus-democratic values, while the Warrior Society has attacked that religion and asserted independence. Meanwhile,
16819-464: The vicinity of Montreal and upriver, joining the established communities (now reserves) at Kahnawake , Kanesatake , and Akwesasne . On November 11, 1794, representatives of the Mohawk (along with the other Iroquois nations) signed the Treaty of Canandaigua with the United States, which allowed them to own land there. The Mohawks fought as allies of the British against the United States in
16958-496: The war. The war was then followed by a pandemic known as "The Great Dying" (1616-1619), which killed around 70-95% of the local Algonquin population left after the war. Not long after this widespread local depopulation, Pilgrim settlers from England arrived in November 1620. Algonquin peoples throughout what would become New England began to see Pilgrim settlers settling in their ancestral lands. Southern Abenaki people such as
17097-570: The winter of 1651, the Mohawk attacked on the southeast and overwhelmed the Algonquian in the coastal areas. They took between 500 and 600 captives. In 1664, the Pequot of New England killed a Mohawk ambassador, starting a war that resulted in the destruction of the Pequot, as the English and their allies in New England entered the conflict , trying to suppress the Native Americans in the region. The Mohawk also attacked other members of
17236-483: The work of David Stewart-Smith. One of the first Indian tribes to encounter European colonists, the Pennacook were devastated by infectious diseases carried by the newcomers. Suffering high mortality, they were in a weakened state and subject to raids by Mohawk of the Iroquois Confederacy from the west, and Micmac (Mi'kmaq) tribes from the north, who also took a toll of lives. Chief Passaconaway had
17375-461: Was a large neutral political gathering in the Mohawk territory that occurred every three years for tribes and tribal confederacies within and around the Great Lakes, East Coast, and Saint Lawrence River. At one of these councils in the 1680s, the Eastern Algonquians came together to form their own confederation with the aid of an Ottawa " sakom ." The Mawooshen Confederacy, of which Madockawando
17514-539: Was among the captives. English colonists established contacts with the Mawooshen in 1605. Captain George Weymouth met with them in a large village on the Kennebec River . He took five people as captives to take back to England, where they were questioned about settlements by Sir Ferdinando Gorges . Sakom Tahánedo was the only one of those captives known to have returned home. He accompanied settlers of
17653-470: Was an important hunting and nut harvesting season (butternuts, hickory nuts, black walnuts, and beech nuts were all tasty, and several southern, fire-resistant species were propagated farther north when possible). The presence of southern, fire-resistant species of nut trees like hickories and black walnuts in New Hampshire today is thanks to the Pennacook. The forests would generally be burned again in
17792-411: Was becoming a bigger problem for almost all the Eastern Algonquians to manage separately, but also provided political organization and might to push back collectively against growing English colonial expansionism, as well as mitigating large losses in the recent three-year war with them. The political union incorporated many political elements from other local confederacies like the Iroquois and Huron ,
17931-546: Was complicated, when the Massachusetts Bay Colony was forced to relinquish control of Maine to the heirs of Ferdinando Gorges in 1676. This required them to find the heirs to buy back the land making up Maine, and then to issue grants for people to settle once again. This conflict as a whole was not without significant losses for the soon-to-be Wabanaki peoples, and it became clear that the tribes would have to work together. The First Abenaki War ended with
18070-571: Was forced to release them. The Crown did not arrange their passage back. Italian explorer, Giovanni da Verrazano also reached Wabanaki lands. He was documented about 1525 as capturing a native boy to bring back to France, whom he was sailing for. Around 1534 French explorer Jacques Cartier would explore the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and traded with Mi'kmaq people living in Chaleur Bay . He encountered people now known as St. Lawrence Iroquoians on
18209-407: Was fundamentally democratic and designed to reduce conflict and provide social stability. Leaders and sachems like Passaconaway played important roles in organizing long-distance kin and trade networks with allied neighbors (his own children were all married to the children of allied political leaders). Before the major epidemics of the 16th and 17th century would kill 90% of the Pennacook population,
18348-544: Was located about 9 miles west of the current city of Auriesville; the two were mistakenly conflated by a tradition that developed in the late 19th century in the Catholic Church. While the Dutch later established settlements in present-day Schenectady and Schoharie , further west in the Mohawk Valley, merchants in Fort Nassau continued to control the fur trading. Schenectady was established essentially as
18487-802: Was most active from the 1920s to the 1960s. The families accompanied the men, who were mostly from Kahnawake ; together they would return to Kahnawake during the summers. Tarbell is from Kahnawake and was working as a film curator at the George Gustav Heye Center of the National Museum of the American Indian , located in the former Custom House in Lower Manhattan . Since the mid-20th century, Mohawks have also formed their own construction companies. Others returned to New York projects. Mohawk skywalkers had built
18626-517: Was one of the biggest challenges in Wabanaki and European diplomacy. The culture and government style of Wabanaki would strongly push for a clear and mutual understanding of political matters, both internally and externally. The Wabanaki saw and called the Ottawa "our father" for both their role as a leader in the Caughnawaga Council and in being a tribe that helped found Wabanaki and issued binding judgments that help maintain order. This did not mean
18765-479: Was part, was put in a situation where it would be absorbed into a larger confederacy that incorporated the tribes into each other's internal politics and would start to hold their own councils as a new political union. In this new union, the tribes would see each other as brothers, as family. The union helped challenge Iroquois hostilities along the Saint Lawrence River over land and resources which
18904-432: Was reached, not one but often at least five representatives speaking on behalf of their respective tribe and nation as a whole would set off to negotiate. Probably influenced by diplomatic exchanges with Huron allies and Iroquois enemies (especially since the 1640s), the Wabanaki began using wampum belts in their diplomacy in the course of the 17th century, when envoys took such belts to send messages to allied tribes in
19043-407: Was remembered in a long chain of oral record-keeping which village elders were in charge of, with multiple elders being able to double check each other. In the 1726 treaty following Dummer's War , the Wabanaki had to challenge a claim that land was sold to English settlers, of which not a single elder had a memory. After much challenge with New England Lt. Governor William Dummer , Wabanaki leadership
19182-532: Was the first contact the Mohawks had with Europeans . This incident also sparked the Beaver Wars . In the seventeenth century, the Mohawk encountered both the Dutch , who went up the Hudson River and established a trading post in 1614 at the confluence of the Mohawk and Hudson Rivers, and the French, who came south into their territory from New France (present-day Quebec). The Dutch were primarily merchants and
19321-483: Was very careful and took their time to make sure there was as little misunderstanding of the terms of the land and peace as possible. The terms were worked out little by little each day, from August 1 through 5th. When an impasse was found, leadership would withdraw to talk about the matter thoroughly among themselves before reconvening to debate once more, with all representatives debating on the same page, with their most well thought-out arguments. The Wabanaki never had
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