The Abenaki and the White Mountain area

Curriculum Frameworks:

• Explain how a cause and effect relationship is different from a sequence or correlation of events
• Show connections, causal and otherwise, between particular historical events and the ideas and larger social, economic, and political trends and developments
• Distinguish intended from unintended consequences
• Explain the early relationship of the English settlers to the indigenous peoples, or Indians, in North America, including the differing views on ownership of land and the conflicts between them such as the Pequot and King Philip's Wars in New England.

Introduction:

The first wave of human settlement of the American continent came out of northern Asia, across the narrow Bering Strait, from where it fanned out southward and eastward across North America. Some 10,000 years ago it reached New England, and this was as far east as it proceeded. It stopped by the shores of the Atlantic, where eventually it met another wave of settlement flowing westward out of Europe.

When the first wave arrived, the forests that now cover 85% of New England were still several thousands of years in the future. The land was then covered with low growing brush and grasses. Food was understandably scarce and very hard to come by. The people who lived in northern New England, were called "Abenaki", or "People of the Dawn". Around 3000 years ago, the Abenaki of New Hampshire made a great change in their life style. Although they still hunted the deer and moose and bear, they also added the practice of planting and tending the four "sacred plants"--corn, beans, squash, and tobacco.

The practice of agriculture brought great changes to the lives of the New Hampshire Abenakis. The Abenaki could build up surplus crops, store them in carefully constructed underground pits, and spend their winters in sizable villages, with plenty of company and leisure, instead of having to hunt all winter. They could spend more time trapping for furs, which prepared them for the second great change in the Abenaki way of life. This happened sometime around 1500, when European fishermen, who had reached the Grand Banks in their search for cod, started to come ashore and trade with the Abenaki. For the Abenaki, the new coastal trade meant better tools, more easily obtained. It also meant that their civilization was on its way out. Over the next 250 years through disease, massacres and false promises the Abenaki civilization was decimated and their way of life extinct.

Lesson:

The lessons for this unit will concentrate on the annual cycle of the day-to-day life of the Abenaki (tracing their interactions with nature from their ancient historic roots, to the days of farming, and finally to the era of European interaction). As the lesson unfolds students will be able to recognize and appreciate the tone and complexity of the civilization of the Native American population that lived in Northern New England. They will also recognize that through all of these eras the Abenaki were on a continuous journey and that the journey took on many forms: spiritual; physical; and mental.

Over a three week period students will study each era of Abenaki civilization by a variety of methods that will include: webquests; in-calss readings and discussions; map work; videos; and lectures.

Resources:

• http://www.tolatsga.org/aben.html
  
• http://www.native-languages.org/abenaki.htm
• http://hmt.com/abenaki/history.htm
  The above websites deal with Abenaki history, culture, and language.
  
  
• Video--People of the Dawn, which depicts Native American life as it was lived in New Hampshire before the arrival of European settlers.
  

Objectives:

• To help students understand the respectful relationship of the Abenaki to their environment and the dependency of their lifestyle on the seasonal cycles of nature.
• To familiarize students with the characteristics and complexities of Indian life before European settlement.
• To give students a chance to explore and challenge some of the stereotypes surrounding Native Americans and their culture.

Final Projects:

In groups of three or four students will do a class report and presentation on one of the following topics:

• Investigate how the arrival of European settlers changed the lives of Native Americans.
• Become familiar with the lives of different Indian chiefs in Northern New England: Passaconaway, Wonalancet, Paugus, Kancamagus, Chocorua.
• Explore some of the contributions of the New England Indians to our everyday lives.
• A map of the United States and/or New Hampshire, locating on it various Indian settlements and trails (especially local ones).
• A mural depicting the lifestyle of the early Abenaki's

Vocabulary:

• Abenaki
• dugouts
• Algonquin
• wampum
• kinnikinik
• Penacook
• birchbark
• sinew
• artifacts
• ancestors
• wigwam