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The Cowasuck , also known as Cowass, are an Algonquian- speaking Native American tribe in northeastern North America , linguistically and culturally owned by the Western Abenaki and members of the Abenaki Confederation. Their descendants are found today in the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People and live in the states of Vermont, New Hampshire and Massachusetts]]. Table of Contents

Name

Cowasuck comes from the Abenaki word Goasek and means white pines place, the name of an area near Newbury, New Hampshire. The members of the tribe were called Goasi , plural Goasiak , which means the people of the white pines . Variants for the place name are in French Koés and in English Cohass , Cohoss or Coos and for the people Cohassiac .

Residential Area

Their former residential area was on the upper Connecticut River with the main village Cowasuck, now Newbury, in the states of New Hampshire and Vermont. The river valley forest was a mixture of deciduous trees, hemlocks, and white pines, occasionally towered over by large single specimens, growing on light soils or old fields. On the hills and lower slopes, northern deciduous trees and hemlock trees grew preferentially, and on the upper slopes of the mountains mainly red spruces and northern deciduous trees were found. The villages were typically set up on the edge of a cliff, both near the alluvial land suitable for growing maize, and with sufficient water supply. All villages were close to a river or lake, which served for fishing and as a travel route. Their wigwams were rectangular, covered with bark, had domed roofs with a hole as a flue for each fire, and had room for several families.

History

The best early accounts of the Western Abenaki came from the French, who knew them as converts and friends, but the French preoccupation consisted of proselytizing and the fighting the English. However, French practice of calling Cowasuck, Penacook, and Sokoki a loup - originally the French name for the Mahican - led to misunderstandings in their reports. As a result, the tribes of Western Abenaki were referred only to their respective village names, which were considered tribal names.

French missionaries

In 1608 Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec, the first settlement in New France on the St. Lawrence River. Shortly thereafter, he became the first governor of the newly created colony. He was soon followed by fur traders and missionaries. The first French priests of the Jesuit Order came to New France around 1611. Unlike the gray-robed Puritans in New England, the Jesuits in black robes did not insist on making the Indians French, but first of all Christians. From oral traditions of the Abenaki it is known that the French missionaries were active since 1615 in Abenaki villages on the shores of Lake Champlain.

Jesuit Fathers often acted both as military and political agents of the French crown and as servants of God. They themselves made great sacrifices in their mission to save souls and to spread Christianity. They traveled alone in the Indian country, visited the villages of the Abenaki and took part in the life of the indigenous people. Some of them, like Father Sébastien Rasles, became intimate connoisseurs of Native American culture. He produced an extensive dictionary of the Abenaki language.

Abenakis lived in wigwams, nourished themselves like their hosts and participated in the seasonal cycle - by canoe and on snowshoes. They learned the language of the natives, adopted their style of speech and tried as far as possible to follow their customs and manners. They had no interest in the Indian country, in their women and in the fur trade. Their poverty and devotion were respected and their courage, as well as their apparent immunity to the terrible diseases that the shamans faced helplessly, was admired by the Indians. They shared the lives of the indigenous peoples and earned their trust, although their missionary vocation demanded that they renounced Native American culture, the disempowerment of religious leaders, and the spiritual and social revolution. Father Jacques Bigot once said that he had taken on the role of a shaman to the Abenaki. The missionaries were the lawyers for the Abenaki and helped them to better overcome the differences between Indian and European culture. Sometimes they also represented the Indians in negotiations with the English. Men like Sébastien Rasles became central figures in Abenaki's story. Soon the Abenaki were reputed to be the most pious Catholics and to be among the most loyal Indian friends of New France.

20th century

The descendants of the Cowasuck live today in small groups distributed mainly in the states of New Hampshire and Vermont. But neither New Hampshire and Vermont nor the United States have ever recognized land claims or the tribal status of Abenaki living there. The Cowasuck, now part of the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People , filed numerous claims for ownership of parts of their old residential area, but all have been rejected so far. Literature

External links

• Bruce G. Trigger (ed.) (1978). Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC. ISBN 0-16004-575-4. {{cite book}}: |author= has generic name (help)
• Abenaki History
• Koasek Band VT/NH
• Cowasuck-Pennacook Band of MA

See also

List of Native American peoples in the United States