Wabanaki “Family Hunting Territories” 1

Abstract

It is now generally concluded that hunting and trapping territories developed among the Northern and Eastern Algonquian Indians largely as a result of the fur trade and other factors directly connected with European colonization. Although this appears to be a valid conclusion, this article argues that both prior and subsequent conditions were unique in the case of the Eastern Algonquian in general and the Wabanaki in particular. Evidence for a riverine orientation and the regular exploitation of the beaver in aboriginal time indicates that Wabanaki territoriality was quite different from that described for the Northern Algonquian, and that its development did not require an abrupt shift away from previous patterns.