Passamaquoddy
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The Passamaquoddy (Peskotomuhkati or Pestomuhkati in the Passamaquoddy language) are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America, primarily in Maine and New Brunswick. The Passamaquoddy lacked a written history before the arrival of Europeans but do have an extensive oral tradition. They maintained a semi-nomadic existence in the well-watered woods and mountains of the coastal regions along the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine and along the St. Croix River and its tributaries. They dispersed and hunted inland in the winter; in the summer, they gathered more closely together on the coast and islands and farmed corn, beans, and squash, and harvested seafood, including porpoise. The name Passamaquoddy is an anglicization of the Passamaquoddy word peskotomuhkati, the prenoun form (prenouns being a linguistic feature of Algonquian languages) of Peskotomuhkat, the name they applied to themselves. Peskotomuhkat literally means "pollock-spearer", reflecting the importance of this fish. [1] Their method of fishing was spear-fishing rather than angling.
The Passamaquoddy were moved off land repeatedly by European settlers since the 16th century and were eventually limited in the United States to the current Indian Township Reservation in eastern Washington County, Maine. The Passamaquoddy also live in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, and maintain active land claims but have no legal status in Canada as a First Nation. Some Passamaquoddy continue to seek the return of territory now comprised in St. Andrews, New Brunswick which they claim as Qonasqamkuk, a Passamaquoddy ancestral capital and burial ground.
The Passamaquoddy population in Maine is about 2,500 people, with more than half of adults still speaking the Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language, shared (other than minor differences in dialect) with the neighboring and related Maliseet people, and which belongs to the Algonquian branch of the Algic language family.
Passamaquoddy Bay, which straddles the United States-Canada border between New Brunswick and Maine, derives its name from the Passamaquoddy people.
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[edit] Land claims lawsuit
The Passamaquoddy may be best known outside the region for Passamaquoddy v. Morton, a 1975 land claims lawsuit in the United States which opened the door to successful land claims negotiations for many eastern tribes, giving federal recognition and millions of dollars to purchase trust lands. The Passamaquoddy tribe were awarded $40 million at the resolution of this case in 1980. They invested the money well enough that they quickly increased it to $100 million. Their investing strategy was written up as a case study by Harvard Business School. ([2], pp. 78-79.)
[edit] Special political status in Maine
The Passamquoddy, along with the neighboring Penobscot Nation, are given special political status in the U.S. state of Maine. Both groups are allowed to send a nonvoting representative to the Maine House of Representatives. Although these representatives cannot vote, they may sponsor any legislation regarding Native American affairs, and may co-sponsor any other legislation. They are also entitled to serve on House committees.
[edit] Popular culture references
- Members of the Passamaquoddy tribe appear in the PBS series Colonial House.
- Passamaquoddy is the name of a fictional, turn-of-the-century, seaside fishing village in Maine, presumably near Passamaquoddy Bay, in the Disney movie Pete's Dragon.
[edit] External links
- Passamaquoddy Tribal Government Web Site (Pleasant Point)
- Passamaquoddy Tribal Government Web Site (Indian Township)
- Maliseet-Passamaquoddy online dictionary
- Contribution to Passamaquoddy Folk-Lore, by J. Walter Fewkes, reprinted from the Journal of American Folk-Lore, October-December, 1890, from Project Gutenberg
