HOME: The Story of Maine "The Frontier Wars"

The Frontier Wars were a series of six wars spanning nearly a century that devastated populations in Maine. From the dawn of European exploration in North America until the start of the Frontier Wars, Maine's rich natural resources were the source of tremendous profits for French traders and English settlers. However, land disputes, tensions about resource allocation and European wars combined to trigger intense strife and armed conflict between Maine's English, French and Native populations.
To make matters worse, European monarchies saw the Province of Maine as a bargaining chip in their endless disputes; when war would begin in Europe, the bloodshed would usually spill over into the colonies and, when treaties would be signed, Maine would be one of many spoils of war.
Ultimately, the Frontier Wars had a permanent and chilling effect on the relations between English settlers and Native Americans. What had begun as a fairly harmonious relationship between two cultures, ended with a complete disruption of traditional Native American society. Additionally, these wars laid the foundations of independence and self-reliance that would come to characterize Mainers and would eventually lead to the creation of the state of Maine.
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