Their traditional homeland, Peskotomuhkatikuk, straddles the Canadian province of New Brunswick and the U.S. state of Maine in a region called Dawnland.

The Passamaquoddy have an oral history supported with visual imagery, such as birchbark etching and petrographs prior to European contact.

In the summer, they gathered more closely together on the coast and islands, and primarily harvested seafood, including marine mammals, mollusks, crustaceans, and fish.

After the United States achieved independence from Great Britain, the tribe was eventually officially limited to the current Indian Township Reservation, at 45°15′57″N 67°36′43″W / 45.26583°N 67.61194°W / 45.26583; -67.61194, in eastern Washington County, Maine.

They also control the small Passamaquoddy Pleasant Point Reservation in eastern Washington County, which has a land area of 0.5 square miles (1.3 km2) and a population of 749, per the 2010 census.

[citation needed] The Passamaquoddy also live in Charlotte County, New Brunswick, Canada, where they have a chief and organized government.

While the Passamaquoddy population in Canada is much smaller than that in Maine, there is an organization called the Peskotomuhkati Nation, with a formal structure and a chief, Hugh Akagi.

Maps showing the approximate locations of areas occupied by members of the Wabanaki Confederacy (from north to south):