{{Short description|Historic First Nations people in Quebec and Vermont}} {{About|the historic Abenaki people|the state-recognized tribe in Vermont|Missisquoi Abenaki Tribe}} {{Infobox ethnic group | group = Missiquoi | native_name = | native_name_lang = | image = | image_caption = | image_alt = | total = fewer than 2,101<ref>{{cite web |title=History: Today |url=https://caodanak.com/en/histoire/ |website=Conseil des Abénakis Odanak |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> | total_year = <!-- year of total population --> | genealogy = | regions = Quebec, formerly Vermont<ref name=day149/> | languages = Western Abenaki language, English, Canadian French | religions = | related_groups = other Western Abenaki groups }} thumb|300px|Missiquoi territory within the larger Western Abenaki territory The '''Missiquoi''', or the '''Missisquoi''' or the '''Sokoki''' (Abenaki: mazipskoi ''sg.'', mazipskoiak ''pl.''),<ref>Blue, K. T. "Edited Abenaki Dictionary." Modern Fashion Workshop (blog). April 2021. Accessed [2025-08-26]. [https://mfw.us/blog/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/0320Dictionary.pdf]</ref> were a historic band of Abenaki Indigenous peoples from present-day southern Quebec and formerly in northern Vermont. This Algonquian-speaking group lived along the eastern shore of Lake Champlain at the time of the European incursion. Today, they are part of the Conseil des Abénakis d'Odanak, a First Nation in Quebec.
Missiquoi is also the name of a 17th-century Abenaki village in northern Vermont,<ref name=day149/> for which the sub-tribe was named.
== Name == The name ''Missisquoi'' comes from ''mazipskoiak'' meaning "flint people," which comes from ''mazipskoik'' or "at the flint," meaning a chert quarry near what is now Swanton, Vermont.<ref>Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 159.</ref> It's also spelled ''Missiassik'' or ''Masipskoik'' a word that means "where there are many big rocks or boulder" in Abenaki.<ref>{{cite book |last1=McAleer |first1=George |title=A Study in the Etymology of the Indian Place Name Missisquoi |date=1906 |publisher=Blanchard Press |location=Worcester, MA |page=96 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KioTAAAAYAAJ |access-date=24 December 2021}}</ref>
== History == Prior to European contact, some Western Abenaki founded villages at the mouth of the Missisquoi River. By the 17th century, Western Abenaki from across Lake Champlain consolidated into the main village at Missisquoi in northern Vermont, so historians began to use the term "Missisquoi tribe" for all Champlain Valley Abenakis.<ref name=day149>Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 149.</ref>
The '''Sokoki''' people, who had lived along the Connecticut River, founded Odanak, also known as the village of St. Francis in Quebec.<ref>Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 148.</ref> The Western Abenakis, including those living along the Merrimack River and the Champlain Valley, moved north to the Saint-François River in Quebec, Canada.<ref name=day149/> There they joined the local Odanak community of Abenaki people.<ref name=pf/>
After enduring French and English colonists, the Missisquoi withdrew from areas of conflict during the American Revolutionary War.<ref name name=day151>Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 151.</ref> Linguist and historian Gordon M. Day wrote, "After this war, the Western Abenakis did not return to any of their former locations in force but rather united or reunited with their brethren at Saint Francis."<ref name=day151/> Some held on to land claims in the United States and even collected rent.<ref name name=day152>Gordon M. Day, "Western Abenaki," page 152.</ref> In 1805, the British Crown deeded lands near Durham, Quebec, to Abenaki people who fled the American Revolutionary War; these lands became the Durham Reserve. By 1850, this group became part of the large St. Francis village (Odanak).<ref name=day152/>
== State-recognized tribe == The St. Francis-Sokoki Band of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi is state-recognized by Vermont<ref>{{cite web |title=Federal and State Recognized Tribes |url=https://www.ncsl.org/legislators-staff/legislators/quad-caucus/list-of-federal-and-state-recognized-tribes.aspx |website=National Conference of State Legislatures |access-date=24 December 2021}}</ref> and claim to be Missiquoi descendants. The group is based in Swanton, Vermont.<ref>{{cite web |title=St. Francis/Sokoki Band of the Sovereign Republic of the Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi (state recognized, Vermont) |url=https://narf.org/nill/tribes/saint_francis_abenaki.html |website=National Indian Law Library |access-date=24 December 2021}}</ref>
The group applied for but was denied U.S. federal recognition as a Native American tribe in 2007.<ref>{{cite web |title=Petitioner #068: St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont, VT |url=https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/ofa/068-sfaben-vt |website=Indian Affairs |publisher=US Department of the Interior |access-date=24 December 2021}}</ref> The summary of the proposed finding (PF) stated that "The SSA petitioner claims to have descended as a group mainly from a Western Abenaki Indian tribe, most specifically, the Missisquoi Indians" and went on to state: "However, the available evidence does not demonstrate that the petitioner or its claimed ancestors descended from the St. Francis Indians of Quebec, a Missiquoi Abenaki entity in Vermont, any other Western Abenaki group, or an Indian entity from New England or Canada. Instead, the PF concluded that the petitioner is a collection of individuals of claimed but undemonstrated Indian ancestry 'with little or no social or historical connection with each other before the early 1970's'...."<ref name=pf>{{cite book |title=Summary under the Criteria and Evidence for Final Determination against Federal Acknowledgment of the St. Francis/Sokoki Band of Abenakis of Vermont |date=22 June 2007 |publisher=Assistant Secretary – Indian Affairs |location=Washington, DC |page=2 |url=https://www.bia.gov/sites/bia.gov/files/assets/as-ia/ofa/petition/068_sfaben_VT/068_fd.pdf |access-date=24 December 2021}}</ref>
==See also== *Missisquoi River *Missisquoi County, Quebec *Missisquoi National Wildlife Refuge *Brome—Missisquoi, an electoral riding formerly known as Missisquoi *Brome-Missisquoi Regional County Municipality, Quebec * Treaty of Watertown
== References == === Notes === {{Reflist}}
=== Bibliography === * {{cite book |last1=Day |first1=Gordon M. |article=Western Abenaki |editor1-last=Trigger |editor1-first=Bruce G. |title=Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 15: Northeast |date=1978 |publisher=Smithsonian Institution |location=Washington, DC |isbn=978-0160045752 |pages=148–59 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R-xGAAAAMAAJ&q=Handbook+of+North+American+Indians,+Volume++15:+Northeast}} * Waldman, Carl. ''Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes'' (New York: Checkmark Books, 2006) p. 1
== External links == * [https://caodanak.com/en/ Counseil des Abénakis d'Odanak], official website * [https://www.abenakination.com/ Abenaki Nation of Missisquoi, Swanton, VT], a state-recognized tribe * [https://archives.lib.state.ma.us/actsResolves/1869/1869acts0463.pdf "An Act to enfranchise the Indians of the commonwealth."] Federal status / Provincial status
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Category:Abenaki Category:Algonquian ethnonyms Category:First Nations in Quebec Category:Native American tribes in Vermont Category:Native American history of Vermont