Androscoggin (tribe)
Encyclopedia
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. It is assumed that by the 18th century, they had been absorbed by neighboring tribes.
Name
Arosaguntacook or Arossagunticook, the tribe's endonym, in the eastern Abenaki languageAbenaki language
The Abenaki language is a dialect continuum within the Eastern Algonquian languages, originally spoken in what is now Vermont, New Hampshire, northern Massachusetts and Maine...
means "Rocky Flats flow" or "a river of rocks refuge." Other recorded variations of the name are Amariscoggin, Ameriscoggin, Asschincantecook, Arossagunticook, Alessikantek-eyak by the Penobscot and the Cowasuck. The name Arosaguntacook was probably changed by Massachusetts Governor Edmund Andros
Edmund Andros
Sir Edmund Andros was an English colonial administrator in North America. Andros was known most notably for his governorship of the Dominion of New England during most of its three-year existence. He also governed at various times the provinces of New York, East and West Jersey, Virginia, and...
to Androscoggin. Today's Penobscot name for the Saint Francis Abenaki is Alessikantek-eyak because Arossaguntacook belonged to the ancestors of the people of Saint Francis.
Distribution
The Arosaguntacook once lived in the Androscoggin RiverAndroscoggin River
The Androscoggin River is a river in the U.S. states of Maine and New Hampshire, in northern New England. It is long and joins the Kennebec River at Merrymeeting Bay in Maine before its water empties into the Gulf of Maine on the Atlantic Ocean. Its drainage basin is in area...
watershed, located in present-day southern Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...
and northern New Hampshire
New Hampshire
New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, and the Canadian...
. Their main village was located in the vicinity of present-day Lewiston
Lewiston, Maine
Lewiston is a city in Androscoggin County in Maine, and the second-largest city in the state. The population was 41,592 at the 2010 census. It is one of two principal cities of and included within the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine metropolitan New England city and town area and the Lewiston-Auburn, Maine...
. Together with the Pigwacket, they formed the southern-most of the Abenaki tribes, and were therefore one the first in contact with the English colonists of New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
.
History
In 1675, the Androscoggin took part in King Philip's WarKing Philip's War
King Philip's War, sometimes called Metacom's War, Metacomet's War, or Metacom's Rebellion, was an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the...
. Metallak
Metallak
Metallak was the last survivor of a band of Native Americans known as the Androscoggin, Cowasuck or, more properly, the Arosaguntacook . The band, part of the Abenaki nation, inhabited the upper Androscoggin and Magalloway rivers along the northern border of New Hampshire and Maine. They also...
was member of Androscoggin tribe.
Maps
Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki ConfederacyWabanaki Confederacy
The Wabanaki Confederacy, as it is known in English, is a historical confederation of five North American Algonquian language speaking Indian tribes....
(from north to south):