Penobscot

 

(pənŏb'skŏt) , indigenous people of North America whose language belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algonquian-Wakashan linguistic stock (see Native American languages). They were the largest group of the Abnaki Confederacy and resembled the other members culturally. In the early 17th cent. they inhabited the region around Penobscot Bay and the Penobscot River in Maine. A French mission was established among them in 1688 on the site of the present city of Bangor. The Penobscot were active in all the New England frontier wars, generally supporting the French, until 1749, when a peace treaty with the English put an end to their hostilities. The treaty created ill feeling with other Abnaki peoples, who remained firm supporters of the French. In 1750 the Penobscot numbered some 700. The assistance that the Penobscot gave the colonists in the American Revolution gained for them a reservation at Old Town, Maine. In 1990 there were some 2,400 Penobscot in the United States.

Bibliography

See F. G. Speck, Penobscot Man (1940, repr. 1970) and Penobscot Shamanism (1919, repr. 1974); P. Anastas, Glooskap's Children; Encounters with the Penobscot Indians of Maine (1973).

The Penobscot are a sovereign people indigenous to what is now Maritime Canada and the northeastern U.S., particularly Maine. They were and are significant participants in the historical and present Wabanaki Confederacy, along with the Passamaquoddy, Maliseet and Mi'kmaq nations.

The word "Penobscot" originates from a mispronunciation of their name "Penawapskewi." Even so, the tribe has adopted the name Penobscot Indian Nation.

Penobscot is also the name of the dialect of Eastern Abenaki (an Algonquian language) that the Penobscot people speak.

The Penobscot Indian Island Reservation is surrounded by the waters of the Penobscot River, in Penobscot County, Maine. This large river runs from their sacred mountain to the north, Mt. Katahdin, down through the state to Penobscot Bay. It was along this river that they made seasonal relocations to the ocean for seafood, and then back inland for moose, deer, elk and bear hunting, as weather dictated.They lived in wigwams mostly.

Mount Katahdin remains a sacred place for these people, and as such travel to the top of the mountain is considered taboo. It is believed that an angry god resides in Pamola Peak. Pamola is a lower god in the spiritual belief system of the Penawapskewi. Pamola was an angry god, and due to his trickster behavior, was sent to Mt. Katahdin for eternity by the power of the highest god, Gluskab.

These people have a prehistoric tie to the river, such that it long ago became a part of their identity. The name of their tribe is the name of a place on the river where they spent most of their time throughout the year, a place "where the white rocks are," also identified as "where the river widens."^{[citation needed]}

The insignia of this tribe, evidenced in their art and design, is the fiddlehead, in this case an immature frond of the Ostrich fern (Matteuccia struthiopteris L.) that grows along the banks of the Penobscot River. Fiddleheads of this fern are a delicacy, and are one of the first "blooms" appearing after the harsh winters of the region, thus considered a gift from a spiritual higher power: a reward for having survived the winter.

This tribe became federally recognized through the Maine Land Claims Act of 1980, signed on March 15, 1980. Under the terms of the agreement, the Penobscot and Passamaquoddy tribes received a settlement of $81.5 million in return for relinquishing their rights to 19,500 square miles, for roughly 60% of the State of Maine.^{[citation needed]} They mostly live on a reservation at Indian Island, which is near Old Town.

Casino

In 1973, the Penobscot tribe was one of the first Native American tribes to begin gambling enterprises with the opening of Penobscot High Stakes Bingo which is located on the reservation.

Notable Penobscots

• Andrew Sockalexis, a marathon runner who competed in the 1912 Stockholm Olympics, inducted into the Maine Running Hall of Fame in 1989. [1]
• Louis Sockalexis, the first native American in major league baseball. The Cleveland Spiders became the Cleveland Indians in honor of him.

External links

• Official Website of the Penawapskewi
• "The Ancient Penobscot, or Panawanskek." Historical Magazine, February, 1872.
• "Penobscot Indians". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company. 

See also

• Abenaki
• Maine Penny

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