Wabanaki Confederacy Wabana'ki Mawuhkacik | |
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1680s–1862 1993–present | |
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Capital | Panawamskek, Odanak, Sipayik, Lakeland Ridges, and Eelsetkook |
Recognised regional languages | Abenaki Wolastoqey-Passamaquoddy Mi'kmawi'simk English French |
Religion | Traditional belief systems, including Midewiwin and Glooscap narratives; Christianity, mainly Jesuits |
Constituent countries | |
Government | Tribal Confederation |
History | |
• Established | 1680s |
• Disestablished | 1862 1993–present |
• Re-established | 1993 |
Today part of | Canada United States |
The Wabanaki Confederacy (Wabenaki, Wobanaki, translated to "People of the Dawn" or "Easterner"; also: Wabanakia, "Dawnland"[1]) 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 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.[2]: 117
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.[3][4] The territory boundaries encompass present-day Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, in 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.