Penobscot River in Maine by Carol Highsmith.ĭuring the American Revolution, the Penobscot sided with the Patriots and played an important role in defending against British offensives from Canada. Their numbers were also reduced due to fighting between the Wabanaki Confederacy and the powerful Mohawk people of the Iroquois League, which struggled to control the fur trade. Their fatality rates from the introduction of diseases was high, and the population declined. French missionary priests settled among the Penobscot at some point, and the tribe adopted Christian teachings.īut, the Europeans introduced two more things to the tribe – alcohol and infectious diseases, which would take their toll on the tribe. More people began interacting with the tribe during the fur trade, and the Penobscot were willing to trade pelts for European goods such as metal axes, guns, and copper or iron cookware.
He was followed by the French explorer Samuel de Champlain in 1605, who was looking for the mythical city of Norumbega, thought to have been in the vicinity of present-day Bangor, Maine. The first European known to have visited them was probably the Portuguese Estêvão Gomes in 1524, who was working for Spain. Originally, they are thought to have numbered over 10,000, but wars with the Mohawk, conflicts with European settlers, and diseases such as smallpox introduced by the Europeans decimated their population. The Penobscot social structure consisted of loose groupings of villages, each with its own chief, who was often also a shaman. They used birch bark canoes and snowshoes when traveling and utilized toboggans to drag back their game. They traveled in the winter from their villages to hunt in the forests.
Wabanaki Confederacy in Maine, courtesy Wikipedia.īands moved seasonally, following the patterns of game and fish.
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