The Wabanaki American Indians were among the first to make contact with English, Dutch, and French settlers in what is now New England in the United States and New Brunswick in Canada. Contacts were initially friendly, and some Wabanaki learned English and traveled to Europe before returning to America. It was the Wabanaki who helped the first desperate colony of Dutch religious refugees, who had been exterminated by the harsh winter (over 50 deaths out of a total of 100 settlers), survive by teaching them to plant corn and fertilize the sandy, hostile soil with fish entrails. They survived, and their genes are now found in 10% of the US population.
