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120-636: Lac Seul First Nation is an Ojibwe First Nation band government located on the southeastern shores of Lac Seul , 56 kilometres (35 mi) northeast of the city of Dryden, Ontario . Though Lac Seul First Nation is a treaty signatory to Treaty 3 , the First Nation is a member of the Independent First Nations Alliance , a regional tribal council and a member of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation . The registered population of Lac Seul

240-552: A pipe ceremony at Peace Point , which gave its name to the Peace River . The river became the boundary with the Beavers on the left bank (to the north and west) and the Cree on the right bank (the south and east). In the south little political or economic history is recorded for several decades. Recounting his story to David Thompson many years later, a Cree man named Saukamappee told of

360-523: A Cree band under Big Bear, the Blackfoot under Crowfoot, and a group of Metis hunters including Louis Riel . Governmental opinion in both Canada and the US quickly turned against the previous policy of allowing the free movement of native people across the frontier. Authorities in both countries wanted natives to "civilize", by ending their nomadic hunting traditions, and take up agriculture on reserves, thereby opening

480-733: A band of Cree aiding the Piegan (Blackfoot) in their conflict with the Snake near the Eagle Hills around 1723. The battle was fought on foot with bows-and-arrows tipped with obsidian , and neither guns nor horses were involved at this point. By 1732 the Snakes had horses, which they were using to great effect against the Piegan, and so the Piegan called upon the Cree and Assiniboine for assistance. This time, however, Sukamappee says that Cree and Assiniboine muskets turned

600-456: A culturally-specific form of pictorial writing, used in the religious rites of the Midewiwin and recorded on birch bark scrolls and possibly on rock. The many complex pictures on the sacred scrolls communicate much historical, geometrical, and mathematical knowledge, as well as images from their spiritual pantheon. The use of petroforms , petroglyphs , and pictographs has been common throughout

720-510: A feast is also held by the relatives which ends with a final smoke of the offering tobacco or the tobacco being thrown in the fire. Although conventional caskets are mainly used in today's communities, birch bark fire matches are buried along with the body as a tool to help light fires to guide their journey to Gaagige Minawaanigozigiwining . Plants used by the Ojibwe include Agrimonia gryposepala , used for urinary problems, and Pinus strobus ,

840-556: A few dozen or at most a few hundred people nominated its own leader to sign treaties on the group's behalf. Member bands of the Confederacy were signatories to Treaty 1 (1871, southern Manitoba), Treaty 4 (signings 1874–1877, now southern Saskatchewan), Treaty 5 (signings 1875–1879 plus later additions, now northern Manitoba), and Treaty 6 (signings 1876–1879, many later additions, now central Saskatchewan and Alberta). Notably, these were negotiated separately from Treaty 7 (1877) with

960-410: A mobile kitchen to teach their communities about nutritious food preparation. The traditional Native American diet was seasonally dependent on hunting, fishing and the foraging and farming of produce and grains. The modern diet has substituted some other types of food like frybread and "Indian tacos" in place of these traditionally prepared meals. The Native Americans loss of connection to their culture

1080-741: A safe haven. In response the United States began to militarize its frontier in the region, constructing Fort Assinniboine near the Bears Paw Mountains [ sic ] in 1879 and Fort Maginnis in the Judith Basin in 1880. In that same year a Canadian report estimated seven to eight thousand "British Indians" were hunting in Montana, including three of the most famous Aboriginal leaders in Western Canadian history who were encamped together:

1200-600: A separate group from 1754–1755 when Anthony Henday wrote of camping with "Stone" families near present-day Red Deer, Alberta . The Stoney were already trading with the Cree fur traders at this point and were military allies. American ethnographer and historian Edward S. Curtis wrote about the close but unstable relationship between the Assiniboine and the Plains Cree, and how, after the Plains and Woods Cree territories diverged,

1320-534: A source of horses, for their own use and to trade to the isolated European fur trade posts. They were allies of the Blackfoot and Mandan against the Sioux in the great horse wars of this period. The Cree made significant profits from the trade with the Blackfoot; one HBC journal entry notes that a Cree trader bought a musket from the HBC for 14 prime beaver pelts and sold it to a Blackfoot warrior for 50 prime beaver pelts . From

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1440-625: A spider's web, used as a protective charm for infants. According to Ojibwe legend, the protective charms originate with the Spider Woman , known as Asibikaashi ; who takes care of the children and the people on the land and as the Ojibwe Nation spread to the corners of North America it became difficult for Asibikaashi to reach all the children, so the mothers and grandmothers wove webs for the children, which had an apotropaic purpose and were not explicitly connected with dreams. In Ojibwe tradition,

1560-404: A wooden marker, inscribed with the deceased's doodem (clan sign). Because of the distinct features of these burials, Ojibwe graves have been often looted by grave robbers. In the United States, many Ojibwe communities safe-guard their burial mounds through the enforcement of the 1990 Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act . Several Ojibwe bands in the United States cooperate in

1680-886: Is Anishinaabemowin , a branch of the Algonquian language family . The Ojibwe are part of the Council of Three Fires (along with the Odawa and Potawatomi ) and of the larger Anishinaabeg, which includes Algonquin , Nipissing , and Oji-Cree people. Historically, through the Saulteaux branch, they were part of the Iron Confederacy , with the Cree, Assiniboine , and Metis . The Ojibwe are known for their birchbark canoes , birchbark scrolls , mining and trade in copper , and their harvesting of wild rice and maple syrup . Their Midewiwin Society

1800-460: Is a vast, longstanding trade network across the continent. The use and trade of copper across the continent has also been proof of a large trading network that took place for thousands of years, as far back as the Hopewell tradition . Certain types of rock used for spear and arrow heads have also been traded over large distances precontact. During the summer months, the people attend jiingotamog for

1920-409: Is approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) from Sioux Lookout, Ontario . Kejick Bay is approximately 60 kilometres (37 mi) northwest of Sioux Lookout and is accessible by road and water and air. Frenchmen's Head and Kejick Bay each have a population of about 400 each, while Whitefish Bay has a population of about 100. In 1929 Ontario Hydro constructed a dam at Ear Falls to control the level of

2040-427: Is governed by Chief Clifford Bull Frenchman’s Head Council Samantha Kejick Elvis Trout Raymond Angeconeb Clayton Littledeer Kejick Bay Council Derek Maud Stan Littledeer Gerald Kejick Whitefish Bay Council Wade Bull Ojibwe According to the U.S. census, Ojibwe people are one of the largest tribal populations among Native American peoples in the U.S. In Canada, they are

2160-468: Is part of the "quest to reconnect to their food traditions" sparking an interest in traditional ingredients like wild rice , that is the official state grain of Minnesota and Michigan, and was part of the pre-colonial diet of the Ojibwe. Other staple foods of the Ojibwe were fish, maple sugar, venison and corn. They grew beans, squash, corn and potatoes and foraged for blueberries, blackberries, choke cherries, raspberries, gooseberries and huckleberries. During

2280-557: Is still widely spoken, although the number of fluent speakers has declined sharply. Today, most of the language's fluent speakers are elders. Since the early 21st century, there is a growing movement to revitalize the language and restore its strength as a central part of Ojibwe culture. The language belongs to the Algonquian linguistic group and is descended from Proto-Algonquian . Its sister languages include Blackfoot , Cheyenne , Cree , Fox , Menominee , Potawatomi , and Shawnee among

2400-415: Is well respected as the keeper of detailed and complex scrolls of events, oral history, songs, maps, memories, stories, geometry, and mathematics. European powers, Canada, and the U.S. have colonized Ojibwe lands. The Ojibwe signed treaties with settler leaders to surrender land for settlement in exchange for compensation, land reserves and guarantees of traditional rights. Many European settlers moved into

2520-633: The Manitoba Act . The Métis were not able to rally the Cree or Assiniboine to their cause, and the Wolseley expedition instead put down the Red River Resistance with military force during the annual buffalo hunt rather than overseeing the implementation of the Manitoba Act as had been negotiated. The decline of the buffalo had become a subsistence crisis for the member bands of the Confederacy by

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2640-581: The Waabanakiing (Land of the Dawn, i.e., Eastern Land) to teach them the mide way of life. One of the miigis was too spiritually powerful and killed the people in the Waabanakiing when they were in its presence. The six others remained to teach, while the one returned into the ocean. The six established doodem (clans) for people in the east, symbolized by animals. The five original Anishinaabe doodem were

2760-616: The Atlantic coast of what is now Quebec . They traded widely across the continent for thousands of years as they migrated, and knew of the canoe routes to move north, west to east, and then south in the Americas. The identification of the Ojibwe as a culture or people may have occurred in response to contact with Europeans. The Europeans preferred to deal with groups, and tried to identify those they encountered. According to Ojibwe oral history, seven great miigis (Cowrie shells) appeared to them in

2880-567: The Brule River (Bois Brûlé) in what is today northern Wisconsin and resulted in a decisive victory for the Ojibwe. In Canada, many of the land cession treaties the British made with the Ojibwe provided for their rights for continued hunting, fishing and gathering of natural resources after land sales. The government signed numbered treaties in northwestern Ontario, Manitoba , Saskatchewan , and Alberta . British Columbia had not signed treaties until

3000-895: The Elbow of the South Branch and a few miles west of Fort Ellice on the Assiniboine. They then strike for the Grand Coteau de Missouri , and their eastern flank often approaches the Red River herds coming north from the Grand Coteau . They then proceed across the Missouri up the Yellow Stone , and return to the Saskatchewan and Athabaska as winter approaches, by the flanks of the Rocky Mountains . This meant that many Plains peoples would often rely on

3120-525: The Great Lakes and the northern Great Plains . The popularity of the epic poem The Song of Hiawatha , written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in 1855, publicized the Ojibwe culture. The epic contains many toponyms that originate from Ojibwe words. According to Ojibwe oral history and from recordings in birch bark scrolls, the Ojibwe originated from the mouth of the Saint Lawrence River on

3240-610: The Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission , which manages the treaty hunting and fishing rights in the Lake Superior- Lake Michigan areas. The commission follows the directives of U.S. agencies to run several wilderness areas . Some Minnesota Ojibwe tribal councils cooperate in the 1854 Treaty Authority , which manages their treaty hunting and fishing rights in the Arrowhead Region . In Michigan,

3360-712: The Gros Ventres . In 1790, the Gros Ventres joined the Blackfoot Confederacy, making the Iron Confederacy and the Blackfoot enemies for the first time. In response, the Plains Cree allied with the "Flathead" (Salish) Indians as a new source of horses. In the 1810s, Peter Fidler described the Cree and Sacree peacefully sharing the Beaver Hills , but he also records that a new geographical place name had been added to

3480-510: The Hohe or "rebels". By 1806, the historical evidence definitively locates them in the Assiniboine River valley in present-day Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The Cree had been in contact with Europeans since around 1611 when Henry Hudson reached their ancestral homeland around Hudson and James Bays . The traditional view of historians, based on the accounts of European traders, is that once

3600-529: The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) began to establish itself in the Hudson Bay region, two branches of the Cree began moving west and south to act as middlemen traders. They denied other plains peoples access to the HBC, except for the Assiniboine, in exchange for peaceful relations. A more recent view, based on oral history and linguistic evidence, suggests that the Cree were already established west of Lake Winnipeg when

3720-763: The Potawatomi removal . In British North America, the Royal Proclamation of 1763 following the Seven Years' War governed the cession of land by treaty or purchase. Subsequently, France ceded most of the land in Upper Canada to Great Britain. Even with the Jay Treaty signed between Great Britain and the United States following the American Revolutionary War , the newly formed United States did not fully uphold

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3840-495: The Saint Louis River estuary at the western end of Lake Superior. (This has since been developed as the present-day Duluth / Superior cities.) The people were directed in a vision by the miigis being to go to the "place where there is food (i.e., wild rice ) upon the waters." Their second major settlement, referred to as their "seventh stopping place", was at Shaugawaumikong (or Zhaagawaamikong , French, Chequamegon ) on

3960-717: The Sandy Lake Tragedy , several hundred Ojibwe died because of the federal government's failure to deliver fall annuity payments. The government attempted to do this in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan . Through the efforts of Chief Buffalo and the rise of popular opinion in the U.S. against Ojibwe removal, the bands east of the Mississippi were allowed to return to reservations on ceded territory. A few families were removed to Kansas as part of

4080-515: The Stoney before the mid-eighteenth century are obscure. They speak a Siouan language they call nakoda , which is little different from Assiniboine . The present-day Stoney Nation of Alberta believes that Kelsey's mention of the "Mountain Poets" may refer to their ancestors. However, the consensus view is that they were not yet a separate people from the Assiniboine. There is clear evidence of them as

4200-719: The Turtle Mountains of North Dakota . In the latter area, the French Canadians called them Ojibwe or Saulteaux . The Ojibwe were part of a long-term alliance with the Anishinaabe Odawa and Potawatomi peoples, called the Council of Three Fires . They fought against the Iroquois Confederacy , based mainly to the southeast of the Great Lakes in present-day New York , and the Sioux to the west. The Ojibwa stopped

4320-581: The Unorganized Kenora District , except at its southeast, which borders the town of Sioux Lookout . The French name for the lake and the reserve, Lac Seul , may be a mistranslation of Obishikokaang as Obezhigokaang : "Sole Abundance". The meaning of Obishikokaang is not known but the typical translation of Obishikokaang provided is "Narrows [Abundant] with White Pine" or "White Pine Narrows", which in common Ojibwe should be something closer to Obaazhingwaakokaang . The Lac Seul First Nation

4440-509: The Wawaazisii ( Bullhead ), Baswenaazhi (Echo-maker, i.e., Crane ), Aan'aawenh ( Pintail Duck), Nooke (Tender, i.e., Bear ) and Moozoonsii (Little Moose ). The six miigis then returned to the ocean as well. If the seventh had stayed, it would have established the Thunderbird doodem . At a later time, one of these miigis appeared in a vision to relate a prophecy. It said that if

4560-443: The whooping cough outbreak of 1819–1820 and the smallpox outbreak of 1780–1781 decimated many bands, forcing them to merge with neighbours. In 1846, travelling artist Paul Kane identified a man he met at Fort Pitt, Kee-a-kee-ka-sa-coo-way , as "head chief" of the Cree, though it is doubtful that any such title existed. Kane mentions a man named Mukeetoo as his associate, but historians believe this person to be Black Powder, who

4680-664: The " Plains Cree " and the northern half the " Woods Cree "), the Saulteaux (Plains Ojibwa), the Nakoda or Stoney people also called Pwat or Assiniboine , and the Métis and Haudenosaunee (who had come west with the fur trade). The Confederacy rose to predominance on the northern Plains during the height of the North American fur trade when they operated as middlemen controlling the flow of European goods, particularly guns and ammunition, to other Indigenous nations (the " Indian Trade "), and

4800-492: The 1870s which led them to seek help from the Canadian government. The Canadian government was only willing to give this in exchange for treaties which they believed would extinguish their aboriginal title . The Confederacy was always a loose grouping, and when the Canadian government negotiated treaties in the region in the 1870s, the agreements were made with groups of bands, not with any central leadership. Each band, consisting of

4920-653: The Anishinaabe philosophy of interconnectedness and balance among all living generations, as well as of all generations of the past and of the future. The Ojibwe people were divided into a number of doodemag (clans; singular: doodem ) named primarily for animals and birds totems (pronounced doodem ). The word in the Ojibwe language means "my fellow clansman." The five original totems were Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi /"Ajiijaak" ("Echo-maker", i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke ("Tender", i.e., Bear) and Moozwaanowe ("Little" Moose-tail). The Crane totem

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5040-520: The Anishinaabeg did not move farther west, they would not be able to keep their traditional ways alive because of the many new pale-skinned settlers who would arrive soon in the east. Their migration path would be symbolized by a series of smaller Turtle Islands, which was confirmed with miigis shells (i.e., cowry shells). After receiving assurance from their "Allied Brothers" (i.e., Mi'kmaq ) and "Father" (i.e., Abenaki ) of their safety to move inland,

5160-595: The Anishinaabeg gradually migrated west along the Saint Lawrence River to the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing , and then to the Great Lakes. The first of the smaller Turtle Islands was Mooniyaa , where Mooniyaang (present-day Montreal ) developed. The "second stopping place" was in the vicinity of the Wayaanag-gakaabikaa (Concave Waterfalls, i.e., Niagara Falls ). At their "third stopping place", near

5280-461: The Bay directly, as it was too far and, as a plains people, they were not experienced canoeists). A gun was worth roughly fifty beavers, and a horse was worth one gun according to Henday. In 1772, Mathew Cocking reported that the Cree and Assiniboine with whom he travelled were always alarmed when they saw an unknown horse, fearing that they might belong to the Snakes. Cocking also suggests that at this time

5400-401: The Beavers settled their hostilities at Peace point. — The North American Indian, Volume 18 (1907) During this early period the north front of expansion is better documented. By the early 1700s the Cree had come into conflict with the Chipewyan to their northwest. With the help of a Chipewyan interpreter, Thanadelthur (a woman who had learned the Cree language as a captive), the HBC

5520-443: The Blackfoot Confederacy, showing that the Canadian government recognized the differences between the two groups. Under the terms of these treaties, the member bands of the Iron Confederacy accepted the presence of Canadian settlers on their lands in exchange for emergency and ongoing aid to deal with the starvation being experienced by the plains people due to the disappearance of the bison herds. Not all bands were equally reconciled to

5640-400: The Blackfoot, helping them to drive the Kootenay and Snakes across the Rocky Mountains. At the same time, many Assiniboine people moved farther west, eventually spawning the Nakoda (Stoney) people, who were a separate group by about 1744. The Confederacy fought a series of wars over the control of the trade in major commodities on the plains. Before 1790, the Cree relied on the Mandan as

5760-475: The Blackfoot, the Battle of the Belly River on October 25, 1870, near present-day Lethbridge , Alberta, but lost at least 200 warriors. Following this, in 1873, Blackfoot leader Crowfoot ceremonially adopted Poundmaker of mixed Cree and Assiniboine parentage, creating a final peace between the Cree and Blackfoot. In 1869 the Canadian government bought the HBC's claim to what is now western Canada. The Métis objected to not having been consulted and negotiated

5880-461: The Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority manages the hunting, fishing and gathering rights about Sault Ste. Marie, and the resources of the waters of lakes Michigan and Huron. In Canada, the Grand Council of Treaty No. 3 manages the Treaty 3 hunting and fishing rights related to the area around Lake of the Woods . There is renewed interest in nutritious eating among the Ojibwe, who have been expanding community gardens in food deserts , and have started

6000-568: The Cree leader "Broken Arm" (Maskepetoon) as one of the representatives of tribes living near Fort Union to meet President Andrew Jackson in Washington D.C. Histories of this later period do not clearly state which bands are being referred to when it is said that "the Cree" were in a particular place. Neal McLeod makes clear that these bands were loose, temporary groupings that were often multiethnic and multilingual, so that most mentions of "the Cree" by historians of previous decades actually refers to mixed Cree-Assiniboine-Saulteax groups. Further,

6120-531: The Cree were able to expand rapidly West. The earliest written record of the military and political relations of the nations west of Hudson's Bay comes from Henry Kelsey 's journal c.  1690–1692 . In it, he states that the Cree and the Assiniboine had good relations with the Blackfoot and were already allies against the "Eagle Birch Indians, Mountain Poets, and Nayanwattame Poets" (the identities of these groups are uncertain but they may have been other Siouan-speakers, or Gros Ventres ). The history of

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6240-409: The Cree-Assiniboine held an annual gathering with the Blackfoot in March near Saskatchewan River Forks where they would trade and the Blackfoot would ask for volunteers for their wars with the Snakes. As the HBC and NWC moved inland to the West, the Confederacy also moved inland and west so that they would not lose their control of the trade. As the HBC and NWC moved northwards and inland after 1760,

6360-474: The Crees were no longer required as intermediaries to ferry furs from place to another, but they gained new opportunities in the supply of pemmican (dried bison meat) and other provisions that European fur traders needed when travelling to the companies' new posts in the subarctic . Some Cree, historically a woodland people, adopted the ways of the plains people, including nomadic bison hunting and horsemanship. These emerging Plains Cree were initially allies of

6480-485: The HBC arrived, and were likely present as far west as the Peace River Region of present-day Alberta. When the Hudson's Bay Company opened its first bayside posts in 1668 and 1688, the Cree became their main customers and resellers. Prior to this the Cree had been at the northwestern edge of a trade system linked to the French, from which they received only the secondhand goods others were ready to discard. Once in possession of direct access to European tools and weapons,

6600-432: The Iron Confederacy was at its apogee, controlling the trade with HBC posts such as Fort Pitt and Fort Edmonton . Their southern expansion peaked in the 1860s when the Plains Cree controlled most of present-day southern Saskatchewan and east-central Alberta with the Assiniboine also moving south. From around 1850, the decline of the bison herds began to weaken the Iron Confederacy. The bison migrated seasonally, creating

6720-465: The Iron Confederacy was never able to regain (permanent) access to the bison herds. A legendary (perhaps fictional) story tells of a peace between the Cree and the Blackfoot made at the future site of Wetaskiwin , Alberta, in 1867; even if true, this peace did not hold. Around 1870 the Gros Ventre, formerly part of the Blackfoot Confederacy for some 90 years, defected and became allies of the Assiniboine. The Plains Cree engaged in one last battle against

6840-406: The Iroquois advance into their territory near Lake Superior in 1662. Then they formed an alliance with other tribes such as the Huron and the Odawa who had been displaced by the Iroquois invasion. Together they launched a massive counterattack against the Iroquois and drove them out of Michigan and southern Ontario until they were forced to flee back to their original homeland in upstate New York. At

6960-402: The Mandan they also received beans, maize, and tobacco, in exchange for European goods. By the mid-19th century, the Confederacy had lost control of the trade with the Mandan. From 1790 to 1810, intermittent wars were fought between the Confederacy and its former horse suppliers to the south. As the Confederacy reached out to the Arapaho as a potential new source of horses, they were blocked by

7080-444: The Midewiwin teachings. These include a creation story and a recounting of the origins of ceremonies and rituals. Spiritual beliefs and rituals were very important to the Ojibwe because spirits guided them through life. Birch bark scrolls and petroforms were used to pass along knowledge and information, as well as for ceremonies. Pictographs were also used for ceremonies. The sweatlodge is still used during important ceremonies about

7200-413: The Métis were soliciting aid in the lead-up to the 1885 North-West Rebellion . Many Cree and Assiniboine were dissatisfied with their situation, believing that the Canadian government was not living up to its treaty obligations, but it was not a straightforward decision to take up arms. Different leaders of First Nations people held different positions on the usefulness of rebellion. Notable war leaders of

7320-413: The Ojibwe allied with British forces and against the United States in the War of 1812 . They had hoped that a British victory could protect them against United States settlers' encroachment on their territory. Following the war, the United States government tried to forcibly remove all the Ojibwe to Minnesota , west of the Mississippi River. The Ojibwe resisted, and there were violent confrontations. In

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7440-418: The Ojibwe ancestral lands. The exonym for this Anishinaabe group is Ojibwe (plural: Ojibweg ). This word has two variations, one French (Ojibwa) and the other English (Chippewa). Although many variations exist in the literature, Chippewa is more common in the United States, and Ojibway predominates in Canada, but both terms are used in each country. In many Ojibwe communities throughout Canada and

7560-422: The Ojibwe and the settlers. The United States and Canada viewed later treaties offering land cessions as offering territorial advantages. The Ojibwe did not understand the land cession terms in the same way because of the cultural differences in understanding the uses of land. The governments of the U.S. and Canada considered land a commodity of value that could be freely bought, owned and sold. The Ojibwe believed it

7680-420: The Ojibwe as Saulteurs . Ojibwe who subsequently moved to the prairie provinces of Canada have retained the name Saulteaux. This is disputed since some scholars believe that only the name migrated west. Ojibwe who were originally located along the Mississagi River and made their way to southern Ontario are known as the Mississaugas . The Ojibwe language is known as Anishinaabemowin or Ojibwemowin , and

7800-528: The Ojibwe divided into the "northern branch", following the north shore of Lake Superior, and the "southern branch", along its south shore. As the people continued to migrate westward, the "northern branch" divided into a "westerly group" and a "southerly group". The "southern branch" and the "southerly group" of the "northern branch" came together at their "sixth stopping place" on Spirit Island ( 46°41′15″N 092°11′21″W  /  46.68750°N 92.18917°W  / 46.68750; -92.18917 ) located in

7920-425: The Ojibwe occurs in the French Jesuit Relation of 1640, a report by the missionary priests to their superiors in France. Through their friendship with the French traders ( coureurs des bois and voyageurs ), the Ojibwe gained guns, began to use European goods, and began to dominate their traditional enemies, the Lakota and Fox to their west and south. They drove the Sioux from the Upper Mississippi region to

8040-463: The Ojibwe traditional territories. Petroforms and medicine wheels have been used to teach important spiritual concepts, record astronomical events, and to use as a mnemonic device for certain stories and beliefs. The script is still in use, among traditional people as well as among youth on social media. Some ceremonies use the miigis shell ( cowry shell ), which is found naturally in distant coastal areas. Their use of such shells demonstrates there

8160-404: The U.S. since the late 20th century, more members have been using the generalized name Anishinaabe(-g) . The meaning of the name Ojibwe is not known; the most common explanations for the name's origin are: Because many Ojibwe were formerly located around the outlet of Lake Superior , which the French colonists called Sault Ste. Marie for its rapids, the early Canadian settlers referred to

8280-428: The West, 16 Plains Cree and Ojibwe bands formed the Allied Bands of Qu'Appelle in 1910 in order to redress concerns about the failure of the government to uphold Treaty 4's promises. The Ojibwe have traditionally organized themselves into groups known as bands . Most Ojibwe, except for the Great Plains bands, have historically lived a settled (as opposed to nomadic) lifestyle, relying on fishing and hunting to supplement

8400-503: The Woods Cree were no longer a part of this military alliance: The neighbors of the western Cree were Athapascans on the north and northwest, Blackfeet on the west, and Assiniboine on the south. With the Assiniboine they were closely associated from the time of the separation of that tribe from the parent Sioux prior to the opening of the country by exploration in the early years of the seventeenth century; nevertheless, there were rather frequent drunken brawls, with consequent murders, between

8520-534: The agenda and negotiated the first numbered treaties before they would allow safe passage of many more British settlers to the prairies. Ojibwe communities have a strong history of political and social activism. Long before contact, they were closely aligned with Odawa and Potawatomi people in the Council of the Three Fires. From the 1870s to 1938, the Grand General Indian Council of Ontario attempted to reconcile multiple traditional models into one cohesive voice to exercise political influence over colonial legislation. In

8640-572: The area of the present-day Dakotas, and forced the Fox down from northern Wisconsin . The latter allied with the Sauk for protection. By the end of the 18th century, the Ojibwe controlled nearly all of present-day Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and Minnesota, including most of the Red River area. They also controlled the entire northern shores of lakes Huron and Superior on the Canadian side and extending westward to

8760-432: The battle in their favour. By 1750, Legardeur de Saint Pierre noted that the Cree and Assiniboine were successfully raiding the "Hyactljlini" "Brochets" and "Gros Ventres", and despite his peacemaking efforts the Assiniboine massacred a group of the "Hyactljlini" (whose identity is unknown). In 1754 Henday reported that he was able to buy a horse from the Assiniboine camped near present-day Battleford, Saskatchewan , and

8880-505: The bladder. The Ojibwa are documented to use the root of Uvularia grandiflora for pain in the solar plexus , which may refer to pleurisy . They take a compound decoction of the root of Ribes glandulosum for back pain and for "female weakness". Iron Confederacy The Iron Confederacy or Iron Confederation (also known as Cree-Assiniboine in English or Nehiyaw-Pwat in Cree )

9000-487: The cultivation of numerous varieties of maize and squash , and the harvesting of manoomin (wild rice) for food. Historically their typical dwelling has been the wiigiwaam ( wigwam ), built either as a waginogaan (domed-lodge) or as a nasawa'ogaan (pointed-lodge), made of birch bark, juniper bark and willow saplings. In the contemporary era, most of the people live in modern housing, but traditional structures are still used for special sites and events. They have

9120-422: The death, guests and medicine men were required to stay with the deceased and the family in order to help mourn, while also singing songs and dancing throughout the night. Once preparations were complete, the body would be placed in an inflexed position with their knees towards their chest. Over the course of the four days it takes the spirit to journey to its place of joy, it is customary to have food kept alongside

9240-518: The deceased are required to trade in a new piece of clothing, all of which would be turned into a bundle. The bundle of new cloths and a dish is then given to the closest relative. The recipient of the bundle must then find individuals that he or she believes to be worthy, and pass on one of the new pieces of clothing. According to Lee Staples, an Ojibwe spiritual leader from the Mille Lacs Indian Reservation, present day practices follow

9360-440: The earliest form of dark cloth dresses decorated with rows of tin cones - often made from the lids of tobacco cans- that make a jingling sound when worn by the dancer. This style of dress is now popular with all tribes and is a distinctly Ojibwe contribution to Pan-Indianism. The Ojibwe bury their dead in burial mounds . Many erect a jiibegamig or a "spirit-house" over each mound. An historical burial mound would typically have

9480-463: The era, such as Big Bear and Poundmaker , led their people to battle, albeit reluctantly; Wandering Spirit was very militant; others kept their people out of the conflict. This was one of few instances of armed conflict between the Canadian government (post-1867) and First Nations peoples. Following the involvement of the Cree-Assiniboine alliance in the 1885 Battle of Cut Knife , Canada used

9600-402: The father's clan . For this reason, children with French or English fathers were considered outside the clan and Ojibwe society unless adopted by an Ojibwe male. They were sometimes referred to as "white" because of their fathers, regardless if their mothers were Ojibwe, as they had no official place in the Ojibwe society. The people would shelter the woman and her children, but they did not have

9720-443: The flow of furs to the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) and North West Company (NWC) trading posts. Its peoples later also played a major part in the bison (buffalo) hunt , and the pemmican trade. The decline of the fur trade and the collapse of the bison herds sapped the power of the Confederacy after the 1860s, and it could no longer act as a barrier to U.S. and Canadian expansion. The Assiniboine are believed to have originated on

9840-510: The four directions, when oral history is recounted. Teaching lodges are common today to teach the next generations about the language and ancient ways of the past. The traditional ways, ideas, and teachings are preserved and practiced in such living ceremonies. The modern dreamcatcher , adopted by the Pan-Indian Movement and New Age groups, originated in the Ojibwe "spider web charm", a hoop with woven string or sinew meant to replicate

9960-454: The grave at all times. A fire is set when the sun sets and is kept going throughout the night. The food is to help feed the spirit over the course of the journey, while the smoke from the fire is a directional guide. Once the four–day journey is over, a feast is held, which is led by the chief medicine man . At the feast, it is the chief medicine man's duty to give away certain belongings of the deceased. Those who were chosen to receive items from

10080-500: The ideas of the treaties. Piapot 's band signed into a treaty but refused to choose a site for a reserve, preferring to remain nomadic. The " Battle River Crees" under the leadership of Big Bear and Little Pine refused to sign altogether. By 1878 the buffalo crisis was now critical and despite the treaties, little material support was given by the Canadian government, forcing increasing numbers of both treaty and non-treaty bands from Canadian territory to hunt in Montana. In 1879 or 1880

10200-430: The lake to produce hydroelectricity . The flooding from turning the lake into a reservoir caused the area known previously as Kejick Bay to become an island, permanently separating it from the mainland and splitting the community into two parts. The island portion retained the name Kejick Bay and the portion of the community on the mainland became Whitefish Bay. The Indian reserve is bordered on all sides by territory of

10320-464: The land up for white ranchers and farmers. Both countries wanted to symbolically enforce their control of the land and its native inhabitants. Cree and Metis parties continued to hunt in Montana until late 1881 when the US Army began to arrest and deport them, effectively cutting them off from one of the last remaining bison populations and ensuring their dependence on government-supplied rations. In 1885,

10440-524: The last remaining buffalo disappeared from Canadian territory, after this time many Cree and Assiniboine bands moved south, making frequent hunting trips into American-claimed territory, or even camping there year-round. This was seen as a threat by white settlers in Montana in light of Sitting Bull leading his Sioux into Canada in 1876 to escape the American military: it was feared that Indian groups from either side could attack Americans and then use Canada as

10560-402: The late 20th century, and most areas have no treaties yet. The government and First Nations are continuing to negotiate treaty land entitlements and settlements. The treaties are constantly being reinterpreted by the courts because many of them are vague and difficult to apply in modern times. The numbered treaties were some of the most detailed treaties signed for their time. The Ojibwe Nation set

10680-407: The main task after a death is to bury the body as soon as possible, the very next day or even on the day of death. This was important because it allowed the spirit of the dead to journey to its place of joy and happiness. The land of happiness where the dead reside is called Gaagige Minawaanigozigiwining . This was a journey that took four days. If burial preparations could not be completed the day of

10800-485: The new railway and telegraph connections to deploy Ontario and Quebec militias to the West, where they applied superior numbers, mobility, and firepower against the loose alliance of Cree, Assiniboine, and Métis. The Métis were defeated at Batoche , leaving the Cree-Assiniboine without allies. Poundmaker's mixed Cree-Assiniboine war party surrendered. Three weeks later, Big Bear's band won a victory at Frenchman's Butte , but this

10920-522: The northern Plains tribes. Anishinaabemowin is frequently referred to as a "Central Algonquian" language; Central Algonquian is an area grouping, however, rather than a linguistic genetic one. Ojibwemowin is the fourth-most spoken Native language in North America after Navajo , Cree, and Inuktitut . Many decades of fur trading with the French established the language as one of the key trade languages of

11040-670: The potential for conflict over the right to harvest them. The great western herds winter between the south and the north branches of the Saskatchewan, south of the Touchwood Hills , and beyond the north Saskatchewan in the valley of the Athabasca; They cross the South Branch in June or July, visit the prairies on the south side of the Touchwood Hill range, and cross the Qu'appelle valley anywhere between

11160-472: The present-day city of Detroit, Michigan , the Anishinaabeg divided into six groups, of which the Ojibwe was one. The first significant new Ojibwe culture-center was their "fourth stopping place" on Manidoo Minising ( Manitoulin Island ). Their first new political-center was referred to as their "fifth stopping place", in their present country at Baawiting (Sault Ste. Marie). Continuing their westward expansion,

11280-515: The region, the Battle River , which had not been mentioned by this name before, was so-called to commemorate a battle between the Cree and Blackfoot, who would go on to be long-term rivals. By the 1830s, the mixed buffalo-hunting parties of Crees, Assiniboine, and Métis reached what is now northern Montana, and the United States government gave the Crees some limited recognition when U.S. officials invited

11400-515: The renegade Assiniboine, for whom the Sioux entertained bitter hatred mixed with professed contempt. The Woods Cree had little, if any, part in this warfare with the Blackfeet and the Sioux; their operations were limited to dispossessing the Athapascans of their territory between the Saskatchewan and Athabasca lake. Peace river, according to Henry, received its name from the circumstance that the Cree and

11520-428: The resin of which was used to treat infections and gangrene . The roots of Symphyotrichum novae-angliae are smoked in pipes to attract game. Allium tricoccum is eaten as part of Ojibwe cuisine. They also use a decoction as a quick-acting emetic . An infusion of the alba subspecies of Silene latifolia is used as physic . The South Ojibwa use a decoction of the root Viola canadensis for pains near

11640-646: The same herd; overhunting by one party (or European settlers) affected them all in a tragedy of the commons . The bison would frequently move across tribal boundaries, and desperate hunters would be tempted to follow, leading to frequent disputes. The bison declined sooner in the parkland belt where the Cree lived then on the shortgrass prairies to the south. The Cree blamed the HBC and Métis for this, but still needed them for trade. Bison could still be found on Blackfoot territories, forcing Cree hunting bands to stray into Blackfoot territory, leading to conflict. During these buffalo wars, alliances shifted once again, however

11760-507: The same kinship term with younger cross-cousins. Complexity wanes further from the person's immediate generation, but some complexity is retained with female relatives. For example, ninooshenh is "my mother's sister" or "my father's sister-in-law" – i.e., my parallel-aunt, but also "my parent's female cross-cousin". Great-grandparents and older generations, as well as great-grandchildren and younger generations, are collectively called aanikoobijigan . This system of kinship reflects

11880-456: The same place in the culture as children born to Ojibwe fathers. Ojibwe understanding of kinship is complex and includes the immediate family as well as extended family. It is considered a modified bifurcate merging kinship system . As with any bifurcate-merging kinship system, siblings generally share the same kinship term with parallel cousins because they are all part of the same clan. The modified system allows for younger siblings to share

12000-428: The same spiritual beliefs and remain fairly similar. When an individual dies, a fire is lit in the home of the family, who are also expected to continuously maintain the fire for four days. Over the four days, food is also offered to the spirit. Added to food offerings, tobacco is also offered as it is considered one of four sacred medicines traditionally used by Ojibwe communities. On the last night of food offerings,

12120-620: The same time the Iroquois were subjected to attacks by the French. This was the beginning of the end of the Iroquois Confederacy as they were put on the defensive. The Ojibwe expanded eastward, taking over the lands along the eastern shores of Lake Huron and Georgian Bay . In 1745, they adopted guns from the British in order to repel the Dakota people in the Lake Superior area, pushing them to

12240-598: The second-largest First Nations population, surpassed only by the Cree . They are one of the most numerous Indigenous peoples north of the Rio Grande . The Ojibwe population is approximately 320,000, with 170,742 living in the U.S. as of 2010 and approximately 160,000 in Canada. In the U.S. there are 77,940 mainline Ojibwe, 76,760 Saulteaux, and 8,770 Mississauga, organized in 125 bands. In Canada they live from western Quebec to eastern British Columbia . The Ojibwe language

12360-587: The south and west. In the 1680s the Ojibwa defeated the Iroquois who dispersed their Huron allies and trading partners. This victory allowed them a " golden age " in which they ruled uncontested in southern Ontario. Often, treaties known as "peace and friendship treaties" were made to establish community bonds between the Ojibwe and the European settlers. These established the groundwork for cooperative resource-sharing between

12480-634: The southern edge of the Laurentian Shield in present-day Minnesota . They became a separate people from their closest linguistic cousins, the Yanktonai Dakota , sometime prior to 1640 when they are first mentioned by Europeans in the Jesuit Relation . They were not a member of the "Seven Fires Council" of the Great Sioux Nation by this time and were referred to by other Sioux speakers as

12600-565: The southern shore of Lake Superior, near the present La Pointe, Wisconsin . The "westerly group" of the "northern branch" migrated along the Rainy River , Red River of the North , and across the northern Great Plains until reaching the Pacific Northwest . Along their migration to the west, they came across many miigis , or cowry shells, as told in the prophecy. The first historical mention of

12720-471: The spiritual and niimi'idimaa for a social gathering ( powwows ) at various reservations in the Anishinaabe-Aki (Anishinaabe Country). Many people still follow the traditional ways of harvesting wild rice, picking berries, hunting, making medicines, and making maple sugar . The jingle dress that is typically worn by female pow wow dancers originated from the Ojibwe. Both Plains and Woodlands Ojibwe claim

12840-482: The summer game animals like deer, beaver, moose, goose, duck, rabbits and bear were hunted. One traditional method of making granulated sugar known among the Anishinabe was to boil maple syrup until reduced and pour into a trough, where the rapidly cooling syrup was quickly processed into maple sugar using wooden paddles. Traditionally, the Ojibwe had a patrilineal system, in which children were considered born to

12960-580: The treaty obligations. In part because of its long trading alliance, the Ojibwe allied with the French against Great Britain and its colonists in the Seven Years' War (also called the French and Indian War ). After losing the war in 1763, France was forced to cede its colonial claims to lands in Canada and east of the Mississippi River to Britain. After Pontiac's War and adjusting to British colonial rule,

13080-569: The treaty. As it was still preoccupied by war with France, Great Britain ceded to the United States much of the lands in Ohio , Indiana , Michigan, parts of Illinois and Wisconsin, and northern Minnesota and North Dakota to settle the boundary of their holdings in Canada. In 1807, the Ojibwe joined three other tribes, the Odawa, Potawatomi and Wyandot people, in signing the Treaty of Detroit . The agreement, between

13200-641: The tribes and William Hull , representing the Michigan Territory , gave the United States a portion of today's Southeastern Michigan and a section of Ohio near the Maumee River . The tribes were able to retain small pockets of land in the territory. The Battle of the Brule was an October 1842 battle between the La Pointe Band of Ojibwe Indians and a war party of Dakota Indians. The battle took place along

13320-465: The two tribes in the boisterous era of the fur-trade. They joined forces in pushing the Blackfeet, Bloods, and Piegan southwestward out of the plains bordering Saskatchewan river, and up to the termination of inter-tribal warfare remained constant enemies of these other Algonquians. The Cree inheritance of the historic Sioux hostility toward the Chippewa was not lessened by the friendly reception they accorded

13440-525: Was 2,837 persons in April 2008, of which the on-reserve population was 774. The First Nation have the 26,821.5 hectares (104 sq mi) Lac Seul 28 Indian reserve , known as Obishikokaang in the Anishinaabe language , containing three settlements. Frenchmen's Head is accessible by road and is approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) from Sioux Lookout . Whitefish Bay is also newly accessible by road and

13560-506: Was Plains Ojibwa rather than Cree. This may indicate how intertwined the two peoples were at this time. By the 1850s, two bands, the "Cree-Assiniboine" or (also called the "Cree-speaking Assiniboine" or the "Young Dogs"), and the Qu'Appelle were established in the region between Wood Mountain and the Cypress Hills and traded on both sides of the international border. From around 1800 to 1850,

13680-449: Was a fully shared resource, along with air, water and sunlight—despite having an understanding of "territory". At the time of the treaty councils, they could not conceive of separate land sales or exclusive ownership of land. Consequently, today, in both Canada and the U.S., legal arguments in treaty-rights and treaty interpretations often bring to light the differences in cultural understanding of treaty terms to come to legal understanding of

13800-505: Was a political and military alliance of Plains Indians of what is now Western Canada and the northern United States . This confederacy included various individual bands that formed political, hunting and military alliances in defense against common enemies. The ethnic groups that made up the Confederacy were the branches of the Cree that moved onto the Great Plains around 1740 (the southern half of this movement eventually became

13920-512: Was able to help broker a peace between the Cree and Chipewyan in 1715. By 1760, the western front of Cree expansion reached the Lesser Slave Lake region of what is now northern Alberta where the Cree eventually pushed out the Beaver (Danezaa) people . The Cree-Beaver conflicts lasted until the smallpox epidemic in 1781 decimated the Cree in the region, leading to a peace treaty ratified by

14040-409: Was in vain. The last band holding out (Big Bear and Wandering Spirit's) was dispersed at Loon Lake on 3 June 1885. After the rebellion Big Bear and Poundmaker were briefly imprisoned; Wandering Spirit and six other natives were hanged. A few members of Big Bear's band and other Cree sought refuge in the United States. They were extradited back to Canada, but most soon returned to the US and settled on

14160-464: Was often identified by the principal doodem . In meeting others, the traditional greeting among the Ojibwe people is, "What is your 'doodem'?" (" Aaniin gidoodem? " or " Awanen gidoodem? ") The response allows the parties to establish social conduct by identifying as family, friends or enemies. Today, the greeting has been shortened to " Aanii " (pronounced "Ah-nee"). The Ojibwe have spiritual beliefs that have been passed down by oral tradition under

14280-478: Was the first European witness to Cree-Assiniboine trade with the "Archithinue" ( Blackfoot Confederacy ). From this and later accounts, the content of the trade is well known: the Cree and Assiniboine gave European goods including guns, knives, kettles, hatchets, and gunpowder to the Blackfoot people in exchange for horses, buffalo-skin robes, and wolf, beaver, and fox furs, which they would take to York Factory (the Blackfoot people refused HBC proposals that they go to

14400-446: Was the most vocal among the Ojibwe, and the Bear was the largest – so large, that it was sub-divided into body parts such as the head, the ribs and the feet. Each clan had certain responsibilities among the people. People had to marry a spouse from a different clan. Traditionally, each band had a self-regulating council consisting of leaders of the communities' clans, or odoodemaan . The band

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