About the Penobscot Indians
The Penobscot Indian Nation is an indigenous people of Maine. They played a significant role in the settlement of French and English colonizers and were fierce adversaries of nearby tribes. In 1973, the Penobscot were one of the first Native American tribes to establish organized gambling on their reservation.
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History
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The Penobscot Indian Nation is a tribe of the Wabanaki Confederacy (sometimes called Abanaki) of the northeastern United States. The Penobscot Indians are the native people of Maine.
In 1980, the Penobscot and the Passamoquoddy tribes received a settlement in excess of $80 million from the United States government. The Maine Land Claims Act granted the tribes federal recognition in exchange for land rights, which accounted for about 12.5 millions acres of the state of Maine.
Like other Native American tribes, the Penobscot saw great population loss after European settlement in New England. But according to the Four Directions Institute, the population of the Penobscot is at a high of 2,000 members, up from 700 in 1700.
The Penobscot are well known for their basketry. Their complex basket designs are constructed with brown ash, birch bark and sweetgrass, all of which are native to the wetlands of Maine. While some baskets are ornamental, many others serve practical purposes such as storage, packing and fishing.
Geography
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Most of the Penobscot Indians now reside at Indian Island, a reservation in central Maine on the Penobscot River. The Penobscot Indian Island is located in the Penobscot River near Old Town, Maine. The river runs from Mt. Katahdin in the north to Penobscot Bay on Maine's mid-coast. Indian island is home to a medical center, Penobscot Museum, grade school, Boys and Girls Club and other organizations that cater to the tribe.
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Significance
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The Penobscot, along with the Passamoquoddy, Maliseets and the Micmac tribes are part of the greater Wabanaki Confederacy. The Wabanaki were enemies of the Iroquois Confederacy who inhabited what is now upstate New York. There are an estimated 12,000 Wabanaki in the northeastern United States and Quebec, Canada.
Features
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The original language of the Penobscot is the Abanaki-Penobscot language and was only spoken by those two tribes. Today, a small number of Canadian Wabanakis still speak the Western Abanaki language. The last fully fluent speaker of the Eastern Wabanaki-Penobscot language passed on.
In an effort to keep the Wabanaki-Penobscot language from going extinct, the official website of the Penobscot Nation highlights common phrases and linguistic characteristics of their language.
History
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Today, the Penobscot Indian Nation is an active outreach organization and keeps environmentally, socially and politically active. Indian Island has its own school, a Boys and Girls Club devoted to Native American children, scholarships for Penobscot students, a natural resources department and other civic agencies.
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Resources
- Photo Credit http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Penobscotlogo.jpg
