We are a Native American Nation comprised
of descendants of the Alnobak (Abenaki Indians) that have inhabited N'Dakinna,
also known as Vermont, Southern Quebec and parts of New York state and New
Hampshire for over 12,000 years. As a people, Western Abenakis trace their roots
to the Lenni Lenape and share most of the traditions, stories, ceremonies and
language of our Algonkian relations. Since the early 1600s, many of our people
have intermarried with our Iroquoian neighbors and we maintain a strong
connection to them. In the early 1800s, several of our bands, along with Munsee
Delawares, moved near the Six Nations in Canada where our people practiced the
Big House ceremonies and shared ceremony with the Cayuga. The five primary clans
of our people are the Turtle, Bear, Beaver, Dove and Otter. Before European
contact our people numbered close to 70,000.
In the late 1700s, our ancestors served
in the American Revolution. We were one of the few Native American tribes to
serve in the Colonial Army under General George Washington during the American
fight for freedom and independence from England. Mazipskwik is the Abenaki word
for Missisquoi, or place of the flint, one of the main Abenaki villages that
bordered Lake Champlain, and the traditional homeland for many people of Abenaki
descent up to the present day. We have also been known as the Saint Francis or
Saint John Indians.
