The Passamaquoddy & Penobscot

Both the Passamaquoddy (meaning "pollock spearing place") and Penobscot (meaning "rocky" or "ledge place") peoples are members of the Abenaki Confederation, but are the only two that have retained land.  The Passamaquoddy tribe has 2,500 members on three reservations in Maine; the Penobscot tribe has 2,000 members on Indian Island, Old Town, Maine, its only reserve.  They speak their own distinct dialect of Algonquin. 

They lived in extended families in summer villages of up to 100 people.  On fertile river floodplains along the coastal inlets, they planted and cultivated "The Three Sisters" (beans, corn, squash).  Their canoes of different sizes varied in design from the coast to the interior and are very similar to Maliseet canoes.

Their homes were dome or oval-shaped wigwams covered in birch bark or woven matting.  In fall and winter, they lived in conical, bark-covered teepees when they scattered in small groups and went inland.  Each man had his own hunting territory, inherited through his father. 

By the early 17th century, a healthy fur-trade existed between the French, the Penobscot and the Maliseet.  The French held outposts on both the Penobscot River and Passamaquoddy Bay. 

The Penobscot Confederacy fought against the Mi'kmaq and Maliseet in trading wars, during which time, the French traded with both sides.  The Mi'kmaq defeated the Penobscot's leader on one of several raids through Maine.  Disease swept through the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot villages, decimating them.