Ottawa (tribe)
The Ottawa tribe, part of the Algonquian language group, historically inhabited the northern shores of Lake Huron and Manitoulin Island, as well as parts of Michigan and Oklahoma today. Their name, meaning "to trade," reflects their integral role in regional commerce, particularly in furs and various natural resources, prior to European contact. The tribe was known for their skilled craftsmanship in birchbark canoes and their expertise in hunting and fishing, vital for their sustenance in harsh winter conditions.
Contact with European explorers, beginning with Samuel de Champlain in 1615, marked significant changes for the Ottawa, including cultural exchanges and eventual displacement due to conflicts, such as the Iroquois attacks and the French and Indian War. Pontiac, a notable chief of the Ottawa, led a resistance against British occupation in the mid-18th century, advocating for a return to traditional ways of life.
Throughout the 19th century, the Ottawa faced further challenges, including relocation under the Indian Removal Act and struggles for survival in new environments. Despite these hardships, they sought education and collaboration, leading to the establishment of Ottawa University. Although many Ottawa members relocated to Oklahoma, a substantial number returned to Michigan. Today, their descendants continue to navigate their identity and heritage, with a portion remaining connected to their language and culture.
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Ottawa (tribe)
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Northeast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Algonquian
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Michigan, Oklahoma (US); Ontario, Canada
- POPULATION SIZE: 4,422 in U.S. (2021 American Community Survey)
The Ottawa, members of the Algonquian language group, came from north of the Great Lakes with the Chippewa (Ojibwa) and Potawatomi; they formed the Council of Three Tribes. By the 1600s, the tribes had separated, with the Ottawa controlling the northern shore of Lake Huron and Manitoulin Island in the lake and the other two tribes settling farther south and west. “Ottawa” means “to trade” in Algonquian, and tribal members controlled commerce in furs, skins, corn, sunflower oil, tobacco, roots, and herbs among the Indigenous tribes in the northern Great Lakes region before the coming of Europeans. They were famous for the quality of their birchbark canoes and their abilities as businessmen.
The Ottawa were skilled hunters and fishermen, though in the harsh winter months they had to eat bark to survive. Women gathered blueberries and strawberries and tapped trees for maple syrup while the men hunted. Samuel de Champlain, the French explorer, made contact with the Ottawa in 1615, and he reported that they tattooed their bodies, painted their faces, pierced their noses, and had very long hair. They hunted mostly deer and small game with bows and arrows, and they wore no clothes in warm weather, although in the winter they put on buffalo robes. Jean Nicolet, a French trader, met the Ottawa in 1635 and exchanged guns and powder for furs. The Ottawa lived in small villages in bark-and skin-covered homes. They divided into four bands, named after the places they lived: the Kiskakon, the Outaouae Sinago, the Sable, and the Nassawaketon. Traditional Ottawa religion stressed belief in a spirit world governed by Manitou, the “Great Spirit.”
Contact with the French eventually led to displacement and disaster for the Ottawa. In 1649, and again in 1660, the Iroquois from New York attacked in Michigan and southern Canada as they sought expansion of their trade empire. After this attack, the Ottawa retreated to the area of Green Bay, Wisconsin, where they remained until 1670 when, under French protection, they returned to the Lake Huron region. Ten years later, the Ottawa moved again, this time to Mackinaw Island and St. Ignace, Michigan, where they joined temporarily with the Huron and were converted to Christianity. A smaller band moved south to the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan where they remained until 1769, when they moved again after warring against the British.
A key event in Ottawa history took place in 1720 with the birth of the great chief Pontiac. Little is known of his early life. During the French and Indian War (1756–63), Pontiac led the combined forces of Ottawa, Chippewa, and Potawatomi in the battle against British occupation of the Great Lakes region. When the French surrendered, he organized a “conspiracy” to continue the war against the British. Pontiac assembled a large force of Indigenous people in a siege of Detroit, the main British outpost in the west, that lasted from May to December 1763. Influenced by the “Delaware Prophet,” a holy man who claimed direct contact with the Manitou, Pontiac called for a return to traditional lifestyles and a rejection of white trade goods, except for guns. The siege ended, however, after traitors told the British of the Indigenous peoples' plan of attack and a supply ship managed to reach Detroit with food and ammunition, over two thousand settlers and Indigenous peoples died during the “conspiracy,” which the British blamed on the French. Pontiac escaped and went to Illinois, where he was killed in 1769 by a Peoria warrior, probably in the pay of the British.
In 1831, tribal leaders accepted lands in Kansas under provisions of the Indian Removal Act. Within three years, half of the Ottawa people had died from the drastic change in their living conditions and sharp change in weather. Fearing for their survival, the Ottawa gave 20,000 acres of land to Baptist missionaries as a part of a collaboration to establish a school that would educate both White and Indigenous children. The school became Ottawa University. A new agreement between the University and the tribe in 2008 established the ability for any tribal member to attend Ottawa University tuition free.
Despite venturing into securing education for tribal children, the Ottawa found life in Kansas difficult and decided to leave. Fifteen years after settling in Kansas, the tribe sold their land in Kansas and purchased land in what was known as Indian Territory (Oklahoma). Only a few Ottawa moved to this new reservation, and many others returned to Michigan. By 1910, more than twenty-four hundred of the 2,717 members of the tribe resided in Michigan, and not on reservations. Of the Ottawa population of the early 1990s, more than half lived in Michigan, three thousand lived in Ontario, and fewer than five hundred lived on the Oklahoma reservation. Many made their livings as farmworkers, sawmill laborers, and fishing guides. The Ottawa of Ontario still spoke the tribe’s language, though it had largely disappeared among American-born tribal members.
In 1956 during the US Termination Policy, which was in effect for American Indigenous people from the mid-1950s until the mid-1960s and was an attempt by the US government to assimilate all Indigenous people into mainstream culture, the Ottawa tribe and their lands were terminated as a recognized sovereign entity. However, the tribe was federally recognized again in 1979.
Bibliography
Curtis, Edward S., et al. The Northern American Indian: Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska, vol. 1, Christopher Cardozo Fine Art, 2014.
Davis, Mary B. Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia, vol. 452, Routledge, 2014.
Dennis, Yvonne Wakim, and Arlene B. Hirschfelder. Children of Native America Today. Charlesbridge, 2014.
Haas, Scott. "Ottawa Tribe Bought Their Land in Oklahoma." The Norman Transcript, 18 Apr. 2021, www.normantranscript.com/news/ottawa-tribe-bought-their-land-in-oklahoma/article‗092c4888-a08f-11eb-bc62-87b29e9b6d24.html. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.
Luebering, J. E. Native American History. Britannica Educational, 2011.
"Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma." Ottawa Tribe, ottawatribe.org/. Accessed 5 Oct. 2024.