Pennacook
Encyclopedia
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n people that primarily inhabited the Merrimack River
Merrimack River
The Merrimack River is a river in the northeastern United States. It rises at the confluence of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers in Franklin, New Hampshire, flows southward into Massachusetts, and then flows northeast until it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Newburyport...
valley of present-day New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
and Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
, as well as portions of southern Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
. An Algonquian
Algonquian languages
The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...
-speaking tribe, they were more closely related to the Abenaki tribes to the west, north and east than to the other Algonquian tribes to the south, such as the Massachusett
Massachusett
The Massachusett are a tribe of Native Americans who lived in areas surrounding Massachusetts Bay in what is now the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in particular present-day Greater Boston; they spoke the Massachusett language...
or Wampanoag. This similarity was both linguistic and cultural. However, during the time of early European settlement, the Pennacook were a large confederacy that were politically distinct and at odds with their northern Abenaki neighbors.
History
One of the first tribes to encounter European colonists, the Pennacook were decimated by introduced diseases. In a weakened state, they were subject to raids by MohawkMohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
and Micmac tribes, taking an additional toll of lives. Chief Passaconaway
Passaconaway
Passaconaway, a name which translates to "Child of the Bear", was a chieftain in the Pennacook tribe.-Life:One of the key native figures in the colonial history of New Hampshire, Passaconaway was believed to have been born between 1550 and 1570, and is said to have died in 1679...
, despite his military advantage over the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
colonists, decided to make peace with them rather than lose even more lives through warfare. King Philip's War
King Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
, however, would make their numbers fall even further. Although Wonalancet
Wonalancet
Wonalancet — also spelled Wannalancet and Wannalancit and probably Wanaloset and Wanalosett — was a sachem or sagamore of the Penacook Indians. He was the son of Passaconaway.-Biography:...
, the chief succeeding Passaconaway, tried to maintain neutrality, western bands in Massachusetts did not.
The Pennacook fled north with their former enemies, or west with other tribes, where they were hunted down and killed by English colonists. Those that survived, joined other scattered tribespeople at Schaghticoke, New York
Schaghticoke (town), New York
Schaghticoke is a town in Rensselaer County, New York, USA. The population was 7,456 at the 2000 census. The Schaghticoke is a native tribe original to the area. The town is on the northern border of the county, north of Troy...
. Those that fled northward eventually merged with other displaced New England tribes and Abenaki. Although no longer a distinct tribe, many bands of Abenaki in New Hampshire, Canada, and Vermont have Pennacook blood in their veins.
The Pennacook farmed maize, corn, and squash along fertile river beds, and hunted the wooded, less fertile areas.
The name Pennacook roughly translates (based on Abenaki cognates) as "at the bottom of the hill."
Influence
In the book The Tribes and the States, by child prodigy William James SidisWilliam James Sidis
William James Sidis was an American child prodigy with exceptional mathematical and linguistic abilities. His IQ was estimated to be between 250 and 300 - one of the highest ever recorded - he entered Harvard early at age 11, and as an adult was conversant in over 40 languages and dialects...
, it was hypothesized that the Pennacook tribes greatly influenced the democratic ideals that European settlers soon instituted.
See also
- PassaconawayPassaconawayPassaconaway, a name which translates to "Child of the Bear", was a chieftain in the Pennacook tribe.-Life:One of the key native figures in the colonial history of New Hampshire, Passaconaway was believed to have been born between 1550 and 1570, and is said to have died in 1679...
- WonalancetWonalancetWonalancet — also spelled Wannalancet and Wannalancit and probably Wanaloset and Wanalosett — was a sachem or sagamore of the Penacook Indians. He was the son of Passaconaway.-Biography:...
- PlausawaPlausawaPlausawa was a Pennacook Indian who lived in what is now New Hampshire. In 1728 he was the last known Native American living in the town of Suncook. At the start of King George's War in 1740 Plausawa moved to St...
- Penacook, New HampshirePenacook, New HampshirePenacook, originally called "Fisherville", is a village within the city of Concord in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, USA. It lies along Concord's northern border with Boscawen. The name comes from the Pennacook tribe that lived in the area...
- Cowasuckabenaki.org tradition site
Maps
Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki ConfederacyWabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy, as it is known in English, is a historical confederation of five North American Algonquian language speaking Indian tribes....
(from north to south):