Wôbanaki Lifeways - Circa 1600

The term Wôbanakiak includes many culturally related groups of Native peoples who were the original inhabitants of present-day Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, parts of Massachusetts, parts of southern Canada, and the Maritimes. Wôbanakiak means “people of the east” or “Dawnland people.” Linguistically, the word includes the morphemes for dawn (wôban), and land (-aki), combined with an animate plural ending (-ak) to indicate people. English, French, and Dutch attempts to pronounce the Native language resulted in different spellings and pronunciations such as Wabanaki, Abenaki, Abénaquis, and Abnaki.