Ethnonyms: Wôbanakiak, Wabanaki, Alnôbak, Alnanbal, Abenaki, Abnaki, St. Francis River Indians
Total population: 5,075
Ethnolinguistic classification: Algic > Algonquian > Eastern Algonquian
Homeland: Ndakinna
Regions with significant populations: the Connecticut River Valley (Kwanitekw), the Lake Champlain Basin (Bitawbagok), the Merrimack River Valley, the White Mountains (Wôbiadenik), the Penobscot River Valley (Panawahpskek), the Kennebec River Valley, the Saco and Androscoggin River Valleys, the Gulf of Maine Coast (Sobagwa), the St. Francis River Valley (Moliantegw), The Bécancour Region (Wôlinak)
Languages and dialects: Abenaki, Western Abenaki, Eastern Abenaki, Maliseet-Passamaquoddy, Mi'kmaw, English, French
Religion: Traditional Abenaki Spirituality, Catholicism (Roman Catholicism), Protestantism, Anglicanism, Episcopalianism, Congregationalism, Methodism, Syncretism
The Abenaki, also referred to as Wôbanaki or Wôbanaki in some sources, are an Algonquian Indigenous people of the northeastern part of North America, and their name is commonly understood as meaning “people of the dawn land” or “people of the rising sun,” a reference to their ancestral eastern homeland. Today, their most visible communities in Québec are Odanak and Wôlinak, located on the south shore of the St. Lawrence River near Trois-Rivières; Québec’s government notes that more than 3,705 Abenaki live in Québec, with many others living elsewhere across North America. Their broader ancestral territory, often called Ndakina, spans parts of southern Québec as well as Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts, and traditional seasonal movement across this region was shaped by rivers, hunting grounds, fishing sites, and trade routes. Historically, Abenaki life combined farming, hunting, fishing, and gathering, while basketry—especially ash and sweetgrass basket work—became both a cultural practice and an important source of income. The language, Abenaki (Alnôbaodwawôgan), still survives, with some elders speaking it and cultural institutions supporting its revival, while songs, dances, museums, and community organizations help sustain identity and transmit knowledge across generations. In that sense, the Abenaki are not only a historical people of the Northeast but a living nation whose culture remains closely tied to land, river systems, kinship, and resilient community life.
