Early+Vermont


 * __Early Vermont __**


 * Archaeologists ** believe that people have lived in the area that is now called Vermont for as many as nine thousand years. Paleo-Indians may have lived in the region as much as ten thousand years ago It wasn't until the year A. D. 1300 that Vermont history was recorded. The earliest **inhabitants** were probably **nomadic** and hunted big game for food in our mountains and forests. Over thousands of years, the ecosystem changed. By the year A.D. 1300, native people began fishing, gathering plant foods, and hunting smaller game. Native Americans were concerned with **ecology**, the study of the relationship between living things and their environment. In this cycle, man is dependent upon the earth to be able to survive. He needed animals for food and skins, plants for medicines and food, water, and trees for shelter and making objects such as baskets and canoes. However, the earth was not viewed as a resource totally at man’s discretion. Rather, the Abenakis knew that resources could run out. Therefore, man in turn had a responsibility to the earth, to protect his **environment** and to respect it.

Later, they established villages near water. Water was an important way of traveling for Native Americans. Water was the means they used for long distance travel, for short journeys, for hunting, and for gathering water plants. The main water routes in Vermont ran north and south on the Connecticut River and Lake Champlain, and east and west on other rivers. Sometimes a **portage** across a mountain or a height of land had to be made between the headwaters of one river and the **headwaters** of another river.

 Native Americans made pottery and bows and arrows, and began farming. The villagers arranged their daily tasks to fit the seasons. Spring was the time to plant beans, corn and squash. Women and children gathered nuts and berries for food and medicine.

 During warm weather, Abenaki families sometimes let their villages for weeks at a time to fish and hunt. They fished for salmon and trapped porcupines and squirrels. Using bows and arrows, the hunters shot larger animals, such as moose and deer. Some Abenaki left home during the summer to exchange shells and arrowheads with members of nearby nations.

During the cold winters, villagers stayed close to home and survived on stored food, such as corn and dried meat. The women sewed animal hides to make clothing and moccasins, while the men repaired tools and weapons.

The Abenaki got along with nearly all of their neighbors. But the Iroquois, who lived on the west side of Petoubouqe Lake, were enemies of the Abenaki. For many years, these nations fought each other over territory.

Information included from:  __Uniquely Vermont__ by Emily Raabe __Vermont__ by Learner Publications Company