Androscoggin people
The Androscoggin (Arosaguntacook, etc., see names) were an Abenaki people from what are now the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire. By the 18th century, they were absorbed by neighboring tribes.
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Name
Arosaguntacook or Arossagunticook, the tribe's endonym, in the eastern Abenaki language means "Rocky Flats flow" or "a river of rocks refuge." Other recorded variations of the name are Amariscoggin, Ameriscoggin, Arsigantegok, Asschincantecook, and Alessikantek-eyak by the Penobscot and the Cowasuck. The name Arosaguntacook was probably changed by Massachusetts Governor Edmund Andros to Androscoggin. Today's Penobscot name for the Saint Francis Abenaki is Alessikantek-eyak because Arosaguntacook belonged to the ancestors of the people of Saint Francis.
Distribution
The Arosaguntacook once lived in the Androscoggin River watershed, located in present-day southern Maine and northern New Hampshire. Their main village was located in the vicinity of present-day Lewiston, Maine. Together with the Pigwacket, they formed the southernmost of the Abenaki tribes and were therefore one of the first in contact with the English colonists of New England.
History
17th century
In 1675, the Androscoggin took part in King Philip's War. The renowned hunter, trapper, fisherman and guide, Metallak (1727-1847), was a member of the Androscoggin tribe.
18th century
In 1725, the Androscoggin joined the Pequawket and migrated to the Connecticut River in Hampshire. The Arosaguntacook migrated north to Canada, where they settled in Saint-François-du-Lac, Quebec.[1]
Maps
Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (from north to south):
- Eastern Abenaki (Penobscot, Kennebec, Arosaguntacook, Pigwacket/Pequawket)
- Western Abenaki (Arsigantegok, Missisquoi, Cowasuck, Sokoki, Pennacook
Notes
- Hodge, Frederick Webb (1907). Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico: N-Z. Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office. p. 229.
References
- Bruce G. Trigger (ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15. Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington D.C. 1978 ISBN 0-16-004575-4
Further reading
- Starbird, Charles M. The Indians of the Androscoggin Valley: Tribal History, and their Relations with the Early English Settlers of Maine (1928). University of Southern Maine Digital Commons.
External links
- Abenaki History Archived 2010-04-11 at the Wayback Machine
- Abenaki Council of Odanak