Potawatomi
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| Potawatomi |
|---|
| Total population |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States (Oklahoma, Kansas, Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana), Canada (Ontario) |
| Languages |
| English, Potawatomi |
| Religions |
| Christianity, other |
| Related ethnic groups |
| Ojibwe, Ottawa, and other Algonquian peoples |
The Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie and Pottawatomi, among many variations) are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied to them by their Anishinaabe cousins. They originally called themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe.
The Potawatomi were part of a long term alliance with the Ojibwe and Ottawa, called the Council of Three Fires. In the Council of Three Fires, Potawatomi were considered the "youngest brother."
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[edit] History
The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records which suggest that, in the early 17th century, they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan. During the Beaver Wars, they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by the Iroquois and Neutral Nation.
Potawatomi warriors were an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy and took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War, although their allegiance switched repeatedly between the English and the Americans.
At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomies were present near Fort Dearborn, in the current location of Chicago. This tribe was agitated by chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), and a force of about 500 attacked the evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; a majority of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force were killed, along with many wounded. This attack is referred to as the Fort Dearborn massacre. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counciled against the attack and later saved some of the civilians that were being ransomed by the Potawatomis.[1] There was also Potawatomi land in Crown Point, Indiana.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indians purchased 1,280 acres (5.2 km²) of land near Shabbona, Illinois, in rural DeKalb County.
[edit] Bands
There are several active bands of Potawatomi:
- Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma
- Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin
- Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (also known as the Gun Lake tribe), based in Dorr, Michigan in Allegan County, Michigan
- Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan
- Moose Deer Point First Nation, Ontario, Canada
- Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, based in Calhoun County, Michigan
- Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Kansas
- Stoney Point and Kettle Point bands, Ontario, Canada
- Walpole Island band; an unceded island between the United States and Canada
[edit] Population
Estimates of the original Potawatomi population range as high as 15,000, but 8,000 is probably closer to the truth. Although they had undergone 30 years of war, relocation, and epidemic, the French estimated there were about 4,000 in 1667. Since all Potawatomi bands had gathered into four villages near Green Bay at that time, this probably was fairly accurate. Later estimates vary between 1,200 to 3,400, but the Potawatomi had separated into many bands, and these estimates failed to list all of them. Accurate counts were not possible until the Potawatomi had been moved to Kansas. In 1854 the Indian Bureau listed 3,440 on the reservation, but some had left with the Kickapoo for northern Mexico. The report also mentioned 600 "strolling Potawatomi," who had avoided removal and were somewhere in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It also failed to include the 4-600 Potawatomi in Canada. The 1910 census listed 2,440 Potawatomi in the United States, with another 180 in Canada - total of 2,620. The current population of all Potawatomi in Canada and the United States is almost 28,000. [2]
[edit] Clans
Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mentions among the Potawatomi doodems (clans) being:
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[edit] Location
The Potawatomi first lived in lower Michigan, then moved to northern Wisconsin and eventually settled into northern Indiana and central Illinois. In the early 19th century, major portions of Potawatomi lands were annexed by the U.S. government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, most of the Potawatomi people were forcibly removed from the tribe's lands. Many perished en route to new lands in the west through Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, following what became known as the "Trail of Death".
[edit] Language
Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen) is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas and in southern Ontario, by fewer than 50 Potawatomi people, all elderly. There is currently an effort underway to revive the language.
Potawatomi language is the most similar to the Odawa language; however, it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from Sauk. Like the Odawa language, or the Ottawa dialect of the Anishinaabe language, the Potawatomi language exhibits great amount of vowel syncope.
Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Allegan, Waukegan, Muskegon, Oconomowoc and Skokie.
[edit] Notes
- ^ R. David Edmunds,. The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire (Civilization of the American Indian Series). Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0-8061-2069-X.
- ^ http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:diuHnnHXzyoJ:www.tolatsga.org/pota.html+Potawatomi+Amherstburg+Canada&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us
[edit] External links
- First Nations Compact Histories: Potawatomi History
- Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation
- Citizen Potawatomi Nation
- Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi
- Forest County Potawatomi
- Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (Gun Lake)
- Moose Deer Point First Nation
- Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians
- The Potawatomi in historical perspective
- Treaties with the Potawatomi
- Potawatomi Author Larry Mitchell
- Kettle & Stony Point First Nation
"Potawatomi Indians". Catholic Encyclopedia. (1913). New York: Robert Appleton Company.
