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Native Americans have live in northern New England long before we began to write about history. In Vermont, New hampshire, and some parts of Quebec, they are known as the Abenaki. The name "Abenaki" comes from the Algonquin language. It means "people of the dawn". The Abenaki call their homeland 'Ndakinna' ("our land").
People think that there were more than 20,000 Abenaki people living in Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine before European settlers came to those places. The Europeans brought lots of disease to North America. The Native people and the Abenakis were not used to these diseases. Disease killed many people; whole families and villages. Many Abenaki people built homes and villages Quebec, Canada in the 18th century. A large number of Abenaki live in Odanak, Quebec today where they have their own community.
Today when people talk about "the Abenaki", they often think of two groups. The Western Abenaki live in Vermont and New Hampshire. The Eastern Abenaki live in Maine. The Abenaki people are part of the same cultural as the Penobscots, Passamaquoddy, Micmac and Maliseet, however they are a separate tribe. During the 1670's their was a war. It was called King Philip's War. Many Native people from southern New England came to live with the Abenaki. People with ancestors from the southern nations still live in N'dakinna today.
More than 2,500 Western Abenaki are living in the Lake Champlain area of Vermont. They are members of the Sokoki-St. Francis Band of the Abenaki Nation. In 1976, the leaders of the state of Vermont said the Abenaki were their own cultural group and nation. Later, they changed their minds. Now the Abenaki people are trying to get the leaders of the United States to recognize them as a nation.
Today, Abenaki people practice their traditions, teach them to their children, and share them with other Vermonters. There are many Abenaki people who are helping to protect Vermont's natural resources and contributing to making Vermont a good place to live.
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