ABSTRACT
The term 'diaspora' is most often used to describe people who have been displaced from a land base in a very real, tangible way - they have been forced to move away and try to recreate their culture and identity in a foreign landscape. In many religious traditions around the world, people orient themselves in the landscape around mountains. The tribes in eastern and northern Maine, as well as in the Maritimes, were primarily fishers, hunters and gatherers, because the northern climate was too severe and the local soil too acidic to support any type of large-scale agricultural endeavour. Wabanaki economies were subsistence-oriented, and had little use for the production of surplus - people likely only took what they needed, lacking the resources for large-scale storage. Wabanaki economies relied on ensuring plenty of alternatives for sustenance, and individuals did everything they could to maintain that plenty, recognizing their reliance on ecological relationships for survival.
