Maliseet

Maliseet (Malecite)
Total population
3-4,000
Regions with significant populations
Canada (New Brunswick), United States (Maine)
Languages
English, Algonquian
Religions
Christianity, traditional
Related ethnic groups
other Algonquian peoples

The Maliseet (or Malecite, also known as Wolastoqiyik and formerly as Etchemin) are an Algonquian Native American/First Nations people who inhabit the Saint John River valley and its tributaries, between New Brunswick, Quebec, and Maine. They were members of the Wabanaki confederacy and have many similarities with the other tribes of that group, particularly the Passamaquoddy whose language is almost identical to theirs.

Name

The Maliseet are also known as Wolastoqiyik, Malecite, and in French also as Malécites or Étchemins (the latter referring to a group that formerly might have been distinct but whose descendants are now counted among the Maliseet).

Wolastoqiyik is the proper name for the people and their language. They named themselves after the Wolastoq River, now commonly known as the Saint John River, on which their territory and existence were centered. Wolastoq means "bright river" or "shining river" ("wol-" = good, "-as-" shining, "-toq" = river; "-iyik" = people of). Wolastoqiyik therefore simply means "People of the Bright River," in their native language (LeSourd 2007).

Maliseet is the name by which the Mi'kmaq described them to early Europeans. "Maliseet" was a Mi'kmaq word meaning "broken talkers" or "lazy speakers" (Trigger and Sturtevant 1979). The Wolastoqiyik and Mi'kmaq languages are fairly closely related, but the name reflected what the Mi'kmaq perceived as a sufficiently different dialect to be a "broken" version of their own language. The Wolastoqiyik language is closest to the Passamaquoddy (almost identical), and related to all the dialects of New England tribes of the Wabanaki Confederacy.

History

Maliseet Territory

The Maliseet occupied the border country between Maine and New Brunswick. Together with other Algonquians in New England, the Abenaki, Mik'maq, Passamaquoddy, and Penobscot, they formed the Wabanaki Confederacy. The territory of the Maliseet extended through the Northern part of the Saint John River valley from the mouth of the Tobique River to Fredericton, and upward toward the St. Lawrence River and westward into what is now Maine's Aroostook County. Their neighbors to the south and west were the Penobscot, to the east and southeast with the Mik'maq, and to the south were the Passamaquoddy. They lived in deadly conflict with the Iroquois.

Although the Saint John River was mapped by 1558, making it probable that first contact between Europeans and the Maliseet occurred in the sixteenth century, the first recorded meeting is in the account of Samuel de Champlain's voyage of 1604. Champlain recounted his meeting with Les Etchemons along the banks of the Saint John River, beaver-clad natives who greeted them with hospitality and celebration, presenting them with venison and other game, and singing and dancing all night (Hodge 1906).

The first Christian missionary to meet the Maliseet was the Jesuit Pierre Biard, who visited them from his Mik'maq territory in 1611-1612. In 1677 another Jesuit, Jean Morain, established a mission for the Maliseet and Mik'maq at Riviere du Loup on the St. Lawrence River. However, due to the Maliseet's nomadic lifestyle, it was necessary for the missionaries to accompany them on their travels (Mooney 1910). A mission was established at Medoctec in 1688 and re-established in 1701 by Father Joseph Aubery, who stayed in the area for the rest of his life, a period of over 50 years. Under his leadership, the Maliseet were converted to Christianity, and he also published significant work on the Abenaki languages, including a French-Abenaki dictionary.

When Fort La Tour was built on the river later in the seventeenth century, the Maliseet were taught the use of firearms and obtained the use of metal cooking vessels and tools. They were closely allied with the French, and inter-marriage was not uncommon. As a result they came into conflict with the British settlers who were at war with the French. After the British gained control of the area at the end of the The French and Indian War (1754–1763), there were disputes over the land until 1776 when land was assigned the Maliseet. This land consisted mainly of the Tobique River and a small additional tract including Medoctec, their chief settlement. In the Jay Treaty of 1794, the Maliseet were granted free travel between the United States and Canada because their territory spanned both sides of the border.

When the Treaty of Ghent was signed, ending the War of 1812, a significant portion of the Maliseet/Passamaquoddy territory was ceded from British Canada to the United States, in what is now northern Maine.

Culture

The Maliseet customs and language are very similar to those of the neighboring Passamaquoddy (or Peskotomuhkati), and largely similar to those of the Mi'kmaq and Penobscot tribes, although the Maliseet are considered to have pursued a primarily agrarian economy. They also shared some land with those peoples. The Maliseet and Passamaquoddy languages are similar enough that they are properly considered slightly different dialects of the same language, and are typically not differentiated for study.

Several French and English words made their way into Maliseet from the earliest European contact. One Maliseet word also made its way into English: "Mus," or Moose, for the unfamiliar creature the English speakers found in the woods where the Maliseet lived and had no name for in their own language.

Before contact with the Europeans, the traditional culture of the Maliseet was nomadic and generally involved traveling downstream on their rivers in the spring, and back upstream in the autumn. When they had finished traveling downstream in the spring, they congregated in larger groups near the ocean, and planted crops, largely of corn (maize), beans, and squash. In the autumn, after the harvest, they traveled back upstream, taking provisions, and spreading out in smaller groups into the larger countryside to hunt game during the winter. They used snowshoes or birchbark canoes for traveling. Fishing was also a major source of resources throughout the year.

Wigwam with birch bark covering

They lived in wigwams, light conical structures made of poles covered with the bark of birch trees. Unlike most other Algonquians, the Maliseet wore hoods made from beaver skin to shield their heads from the cold winter winds.

Their society was structured in bands.

Contemporary Maliseet

Today, within New Brunswick, approximately 3,000 Maliseets currently live within the Madawaska, Tobique, Woodstock, Kingsclear, Saint Mary's and Oromocto First Nations. There are also 600 in the Houlton Band in Maine and 200 in the Viger First Nation in Quebec.

There are about 650 remaining native speakers of Maliseet and about 1,000 of Passamaquoddy, living on both sides of the border between New Brunswick and Maine; most are older, although some young people have begun studying and retaining the language, and the numbers of speakers is seen to have potentially stabilized. An active program of scholarship on the Maliseet-Passamaquoddy language takes place at the Mi'kmaq - Maliseet Institute at the University of New Brunswick, in collaboration with the native speakers, particularly David Francis Sr., a Passamaquoddy elder living in Sipayik, Maine. The Institute actively aims at helping Native American students master their native languages. Linguist Philip LeSourd has done extensive research on the language.

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• LeSourd, Philip S. (ed.) 2007. Tales from Maliseet Country: The Maliseet Texts of Karl V. Teeter. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 978-0803229624
• Trigger, Bruce G., and William C. Sturtevant (eds.). 1979. Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 15: Northeast. Washington, DC: Smithsonian. ISBN 0874741955
• Campbell, Lyle. 2000. American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0195140508
• Waldman, Carl. 2006. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, NY: Checkmark Books. ISBN 978-0816062744
• Ives, Edward D. (ed.). 1998. Northeast Folklore Volume VI: 1964 Malecite and Passamaquoddy Tales. Orono, ME: Maine Folklife Center, University of Maine. Retrieved October 8, 2008.
• Mechling, W. H. [1913] 2008. Malecite Tales. Read Books. ISBN 978-1408619056
• Leavitt, Robert M. 1995. Maliseet & Micmac [Mi'kmaq]: First Nations of the Maritimes. New Ireland Press. ISBN 1896775004
• Augustine, Stephen J. 2006. Mikmaq & Maliseet Cultural And Ancestral Material: National Collections from the Canadian Museum of Civilization. Canadian Museum of Civilization (Mercury Series). ISBN 0660191156
• Hodge, Frederick Webb. 1906. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, Part 1. Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution.
• Mooney, James. 1910. Maliseet Indians. The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9. New York, NY: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved October 22, 2008.

External links

• Maliseet language and culture links
• Audio files of samples of Maliseet speech by a native speaker
• Mi'kmaq-Maliseet Institute - University of New Brunswick
• Tree and Tradition: Brown Ash and Maine Native American Basketmaking Hudson Museum, University of Maine.
• Maine Indian Basketmakers Alliance
• Native Crafts
• Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians

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