Wabanaki Confederacy

Wabanaki Confederacy
Wabanaki Mawuhkacik
1606–1862
Capital		Qonasqamkuk
Languages		Wabanaki English French
Religion		Christianity Spirituality
Government		Confederation
History
•	Established	1606
•	Disestablished	1862
Area
•	1606	349,405 km² (134,906 sq mi)
Currency		Wabanaki Wampum
Today part of		United States  Canada

The Wabanaki Confederacy (Wabenaki, Wobanaki, translated roughly as "People of the First Light" or "People of the Dawnland") are a First Nations and Native American confederation of five principal nations: the Mi'kmaq, Maliseet, Passamaquoddy, Abenaki, and Penobscot.

Members of the Wabanaki Confederacy, the Wabanaki peoples, are in and named for the area which they call Wabanahkik ("Dawnland"), generally known to European settlers as Acadia. It is made up of most of present-day Maine in the United States, and New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island, Prince Edward Island and some of Quebec south of the St. Lawrence River in Canada. The Western Abenaki live on lands in New Hampshire, Vermont, and Massachusetts of the United States.

In its most recent official communications, the Confederacy has emphasized common cause with and acceptance of alliances with environmental activists toward the goal of protecting their land and waters. They gained powers under the United Nations 2010 Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (DRIP) and related treaties which major powers have signed.

The confederacy has historically united five North American Algonquian language-speaking First Nations peoples. It played a key role in supporting the colonial rebels of the American Revolution via the Treaty of Watertown, signed in 1776 by the Mi'kmaq and Passamaquoddy, two of its constituent tribes. Under this treaty, Wabanaki soldiers from Canada are still permitted to join the US military. They have done so in 21st-century conflicts in which the US has engaged, including the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War.

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