Mascouten

Mascouten
Total population
Extinct as a tribe
Regions with significant populations
Wisconsin and Illinois
Languages

Algonquian

Related ethnic groups

Piankashaw and Kickapoo

The Mascouten (also Mascoutin, Mathkoutench, or Musketoon) were a tribe of Algonquian-speaking native Americans who are believed to have dwelt on both sides of the Mississippi River adjacent to the present-day Wisconsin-Illinois border.

They are first mentioned in historic records by French missionaries, where they were described inhabiting southern Michigan. In 1712, they united with the Kickapoo and the Fox, after almost being exterminated by the French and the Potawatomi.

Survivors migrated westward. Their name last appears in historic records in 1779, when they were living on the Wabash River in Indiana with the Piankashaw and the Kickapoo. The surviving Mascouten are noted in United States records of 1813 and 1825 as being part of the Kickapoo Prairie Band.

Their name apparently comes from a Fox word meaning "Little Prairie People". Historians do not know what they called themselves (autonym).[1]

References

  1. ^ Lee Sultzman, "Mascouten History", Dickshovel, accessed 5 July 2010

External links