The Treaty of Casco was concluded between Penobscot representatives and colonial authorities, establishing terms over land rights and relations after King Philip’s War and the First Abenaki War—an important precursor to later Wabanaki inter-polity coordination in the face of English expansion.
King William’s War (the North American theater of the Nine Years’ War) intensified frontier warfare in Acadia and northern New England, aligning Wabanaki forces largely with New France against New England and New York, and normalizing cycles of raids and reprisals across the region.
French forces and Wabanaki allies captured and destroyed Fort Loyal at Falmouth (present-day Portland, Maine), demonstrating the strategic effectiveness of Franco–Wabanaki cooperation against New England settlements and fortifications.
The Treaty of Ryswick concluded King William’s War and returned contested imperial borders largely to the status quo, but did not resolve underlying land and sovereignty disputes that continued to drive Anglo–Wabanaki conflict.
During Queen Anne’s War, a major Franco–Wabanaki campaign struck coastal Maine communities in coordinated raids (often remembered as the “Six Terrible Days”), illustrating Wabanaki reach and the vulnerability of dispersed English settlements.
The Treaty of Utrecht ended Queen Anne’s War and altered imperial claims in the northeast, but Wabanaki nations were not parties to these European agreements—fueling later disputes over British assertions in Wabanaki territories.
The Treaty of Portsmouth concluded a peace between Eastern Abenaki leaders and colonial governments (notably Massachusetts Bay and New Hampshire), part of a broader pattern of postwar treaties attempting to stabilize relations after Queen Anne’s War.
Dummer’s War (also called Father Rale’s War) erupted as New England settlement and fishing expansion pressed into Wabanaki territories; Wabanaki Confederacy forces (including Mi’kmaq, Maliseet, Penobscot, and Abenaki) fought alongside New France against New England colonies.
In the coastal campaign phase of Dummer’s War, Wabanaki forces attacked English settlements from Berwick to Mount Desert Island, contributing to evacuations and heightened militarization of the Maine frontier.
The Treaty of Boston (often called Dummer’s Treaty) was negotiated in 1725, formally concluding Dummer’s War and setting out new terms intended to govern peace between the Wabanaki and New England authorities.
In 1726, Mi’kmaq and Wolastoqiyik (Maliseet), along with other Wabanaki peoples, concluded agreements often referred to as Mascarene’s Treaty—part of the 1725–26 treaty complex associated with “Peace and Friendship” commitments and Crown obligations.
During King George’s War, Wabanaki forces carried out a sustained raid campaign along Maine’s frontier coast (below the Kennebec), reinforcing Wabanaki capacity to contest English settlement even amid shifting European war fronts.
The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of the Austrian Succession and returned Louisbourg to France, but did not settle imperial rivalries in northeastern North America—conditions that helped set the stage for renewed conflict involving Wabanaki homelands.
Father Le Loutre’s War began as Britain consolidated Nova Scotia through new settlements and forts; Mi’kmaq and Maliseet (with Acadian support and French influence) resisted, continuing patterns of Anglo–Wabanaki frontier warfare in the region.
A force including Mi’kmaq and Maliseet fighters (identified within Wabanaki forces) and Acadian militia besieged the British Fort Vieux Logis at Grand Pré, reflecting ongoing resistance to British expansion after the founding of Halifax.
Gorham’s Rangers fought Mi’kmaq forces at St. Croix (Nova Scotia), an example of the localized but persistent raids, ambushes, and skirmishes that characterized the conflict in Wabanaki/Mi’kmaq territories.
The French and Indian War (North American phase of the wider Seven Years’ War) began in 1754, expanding imperial warfare and intensifying pressures on Indigenous diplomacy and military alliances across northeastern North America, including Wabanaki territories.
The Treaty of Paris ended the Seven Years’ War/French and Indian War; France renounced most mainland North American claims east of the Mississippi to Britain, fundamentally changing the diplomatic landscape for the Wabanaki by weakening French power in their region.
Wabanaki Confederacy during Anglo–French Colonial Wars (c. 1600–1763)
