Northeast Baskets
The History of Northeast Baskets and Their Makers The Algonquin Indian tribes of Northeast (New England, northern New York and southern Canada) were the first Native Americans encountered by English and French explorers and settlers. Their traditional lands stretched from the Atlantic Coast in New England to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River, extending as far south as northern Virginia and Tennessee. The northeast Native Americans were semi-nomadic with their movements closely linked to the weather. The whites first settled their lands in the early 1600s and by the mid-1800s, disease and restricted movement severely reduced the Native American population. The Indians were moved onto reservations, areas of largely undesirable land set aside by whites. Deprived of their former freedom to move about and support themselves, they increasingly depended on trade with their white neighbors to supply their needs. Northeast basket making became one of the main crafts that New England Indians practiced to sell to or barter with whites. Starting in the 1870s, Native Americans living near popular new spa and resort areas such as Bar Harbor and Poland Spring began to make smaller fancy baskets to sell to tourists. The vast majority of New England Indian-Northeast baskets were made from thin, flat strips of wood called splints. There is evidence based on early splint basket fragments that Indians understood the principles of splint basketry before contact with Europeans. The earliest splint baskets were square or rectangular and lids were a common feature. Colored abstract or geometric designs were stamped or painted in place after the basket was constructed. They often wove dyed with undyed splints together to create horizontal bands or patterns of color as well as combining colored splint with stamped or painted designs to produce vividly decorated surfaces. Check out these links to see more and learn more: Wabanaki Basketry – A Local Legacy Early Historic Accounts of Basket and Bag Weaving in the Northeast Return from Northeast Baskets to Native American Baskets
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