The Penobscot are an Algonquian-speaking people, part of the Wabanaki Confederacy that includes the Abenaki, Passamaquoddy, Mikmaq, and Maliseet. Their ancestral range included areas in what is now New Brunswick, Newfoundland, Labrador, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, as well as Maine in the United States. Thus, they are both a First Nations tribe and a federally recognized tribe in the United States.
Prior to contact with Europeans, the Penobscot supported themselves by hunting, gathering, and some agriculture. They were fortunate in having the ocean close at hand to supplement their diet. Like other coastal peoples, they began a lucrative fur trade with the Europeans. And, they had a commodity much in demand. They produced a beer made of pine needles, which had a high quantity of Vitamin C. Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, this beer was effective against the scurvy commonly experienced by ship's crews. The Penobscot, like other Algonquian tribes, frequently sided with the French during Colonial wars in North America. This brought them into frequent contact with the Iroquois tribes. Diseases also caused their population to decrease. Encroachment on tribal land also brought the Penobscot into conflict with Settlers. By 1800, authorities in Maine had forced the Penobscot onto reservations which barely allowed them enough resources to provide for their needs.
Today the Penobscot Nation is the federally recognized entity for this tribe in the United States. They became known for their basketry, beadwork and birchbark canoes. The Penobscot River is named for this tribe.
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