Wabanaki Confederacy in the context of "Saint John River (Bay of Fundy)"

Maine (/meɪn/ MAYN) is a state in the New England region of the United States, and the northeasternmost state in the contiguous United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and northwest, and shares a maritime border with Nova Scotia. It is the only state to border only one other state, which is New Hampshire. Maine is the largest state in New England by total area, almost as large as the combined area of the remaining five states. Of the 50 U.S. states, it is the 12th-smallest by area, the 9th-least populous, the 13th-least densely populated, and the most rural. As of 2024, Maine's population stood at a Census-estimated 1,405,012, the state's highest-ever population estimate. Maine's capital is Augusta, while its most populous city is Portland.

The territory of Maine has been inhabited by Indigenous populations for about 12,000 years, after the glaciers retreated during the last ice age. At the time of European arrival, several Algonquian-speaking nations governed the area and these nations are now known as the Wabanaki Confederacy. The first European settlement in the area was by the French in 1604 on Saint Croix Island, founded by Pierre Dugua, Sieur de Mons. The first English settlement was the short-lived Popham Colony, established by the Plymouth Company in 1607. A number of Irish and English settlements were established along the coast of Maine in the 1620s, although the rugged climate and conflict with the local Indigenous people caused many to fail. As Maine entered the 18th century, only a half dozen European settlements had survived. Loyalist and Patriot forces contended for Maine's territory during the American Revolution. During the War of 1812, the largely undefended eastern region of Maine was occupied by British forces with the goal of annexing it to Canada via the Colony of New Ireland, but returned to the United States following failed British offensives on the northern border, mid-Atlantic and south which produced a peace treaty that restored the pre-war boundaries. Maine was part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts until 1820 when it voted to secede from Massachusetts to become a separate state. On March 15, 1820, under the Missouri Compromise, Maine was admitted to the Union as the 23rd state.

The Abenaki (Abenaki: W8banaki) are an Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands of Canada and the United States. They are an Algonquian-speaking people and part of the Wabanaki Confederacy. The Eastern Abenaki language was predominantly spoken in Maine, while the Western Abenaki language was spoken in Quebec, Vermont, and New Hampshire.

While Abenaki peoples share cultural traits, they historically did not have a centralized government. They came together as a post-contact community after their original tribes were decimated by colonization, disease, and warfare.

The Mi'kmaq (English: /ˈmɪɡmɑː/ MIG-mah, Mi'kmaq: [miːɡmaɣ]; singular: Mi'kmaw, also L'nuk and formerly Micmac) are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Mi'kma'ki (or Mi'gma'gi); it is one of the five confederated Wabanaki (or Dawnland) countries.

As of 2023, there are 66,748 Mi'kmaq people in the region; this includes 25,182 members in the more recently formed Qalipu First Nation in Newfoundland. According to the Canadian 2021 census, 9,245 people claim to speak Mi'kmawi'simk, an Eastern Algonquian language. Once written in Mi'kmaw hieroglyphic writing, it is now written using most letters of the Latin alphabet.

Acadia (French: Acadie) was a colony of New France in northeastern North America which included parts of what are now the Maritime provinces, the Gaspé Peninsula and Maine to the Kennebec River. Settlers primarily came from the southwestern regions of France, including Poitou-Charentes and the Aquitaine region (now known as Nouvelle-Aquitaine), as well as Poitou and Anjou. The territory was originally inhabited by various First Nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy who referred to the region as Dawnland.

The first capital of Acadia was established in 1605 as Port-Royal. Soon after, English forces of Captain Argall, an English ship's captain employed by the Virginia Company of London attacked and burned down the fortified habitation in 1613. A new centre for Port-Royal was established nearby, and it remained the longest-serving capital of French Acadia until the British siege of Port Royal in 1710. There were six colonial wars in a 74-year period in which British interests tried to capture Acadia, starting with King William's War in 1689.

King William's War was the North American theater of the Nine Years' War (1688–1697). It was the first of six colonial wars (see the four French and Indian Wars, Father Rale's War and Father Le Loutre's War) fought between New France and New England along with their respective Native allies before France ceded its remaining mainland territories in North America east of the Mississippi River in 1763. It is also known as the Second Indian War, Father Baudoin's War, Castin's War, or the First Intercolonial War in French)

For King William's War, neither England nor France thought of weakening its position in Europe to support the war effort in North America. New France and the Wabanaki Confederacy were able to thwart New England expansion into Acadia, whose border New France defined as the Kennebec River, now in southern Maine. According to the terms of the 1697 Peace of Ryswick, which ended the Nine Years' War, the boundaries and outposts of New France, New England, and New York remained substantially unchanged.

Mi'kma'ki, also spelled Mi'gma'gi, is composed of the traditional and current territories, or country, of the Mi'kmaq people, located in Wabanakia, or the Dawnland region, along the east coast of Turtle Island (North America). Protected by the Peace and Friendship Treaties signed with the British Crown, the territories of Mi'kma'ki overlap with the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and eastern Quebec, as well as parts of the U.S. state of Maine.

The Mi'kmaw homeland is sub-divided into seven geographical and traditional districts with Taqamkuk being separately represented as an eighth district, formerly joined with Unama'ki. As of 2025, governance over the Mi'kmaw nation is delegated to a number of First Nations, such as the Eskasoni and Potlotek First Nations, the latter of which is home to Mniku, the traditional capital—or fire—of Mi'kmaw Country. Historically and in the 21st century, the various Mi'kmaw communities are governed by a centralized council, the Sante' (or Mi'kmawey) Mawio'mi, composed of district chiefs (Saqamaq), a women's council (Saqama'sgw), wampum keepers (Putu's), and headed by a Grand Chief, or Kji Sagamaw, who is Norman Sylliboy as of 2025.

The Passamaquoddy (Passamaquoddy: Peskotomuhkati, Plural: Peskotomuhkatiyik) are a Native American/First Nations people who live in northeastern North America. Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatikuk, straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the U.S. state of Maine in a region called Dawnland. They are one of the constituent nations of the Wabanaki Confederacy.

The Passamaquoddy Tribe in Maine is a federally recognized tribe. The Passamaquoddy people in Canada have an organization known as the Peskotomuhkati Nation, but it does not have official First Nations status.

The Wolastoqiyik (Malecite-Passamaquoddy pronunciation: [wəlastəkʷijik]), also known as the Maliseet or Malecite (English: /ˈmæləsiːt/), are an Algonquian-speaking First Nation of the Wabanaki Confederacy. They are the Indigenous people of the Wolastoq (Saint John River) valley and its tributaries. Their territory extends across the current borders of New Brunswick and Quebec in Canada, and parts of Maine in the United States.

The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians, based on the Meduxnekeag River in the Maine portion of their historical homeland, are—since 19 July 1776—the first foreign treaty allies with the United States of America. They are a federally recognized tribe of Wolastoqey people. Today Wolastoqey people have also migrated to other parts of the world. The Wolastoqiyik have occupied areas of forest, river and coastal areas within their 20,000,000-acre, 200-mile-wide, and 600-mile-long homeland in the Saint John River watershed.