First People of New Hampshire: The Abenaki

The earliest known inhabitants of the land now called New Hampshire were Algonquian-speaking peoples collectively referred to as the Abenaki (meaning "People of the Dawnland"). They included subgroups such as the Pennacook, Pequawket, and Ossipee, who lived throughout the Merrimack and Connecticut River valleys and the Lakes Region.

By the early 17th century, when European explorers and settlers arrived, the Abenaki population in the region is estimated at 1,500–3,000. They practiced a seasonal round of hunting, fishing, gathering, and cultivation of corn, beans, and squash. European diseases, displacement, and conflict (including King Philip's War and later Anglo-Abenaki wars) devastated their communities. Today, the Cowasuck Band of the Pennacook-Abenaki People and the Nulhegan Band of the Coosuk Abenaki Nation are state-recognized tribes in New Hampshire and Vermont, preserving their heritage.