The principal tribe of the famous Abnaki confederacy of Maine, and the only one still keeping its name, territory, and tribal identity.

In all the colonial wars they were active allies of the French against the English, and suffered correspondingly, having dwindled from perhaps 3000 souls in 1600 to about 785 in 1910. Of these the Penobscot number 425, while the rest, all of mixed blood and including the descendants of the broken and incorporated Pennacook, reside, under the name of Abnaki, in the two mission settlements of Saint Francis (335) and Bacancourt (25) in Quebec province, Canada.