Potawatomi

This article is about the people. For the language, see Potawatomi language.
"Pottawatomie" redirects here. For other uses, see Pottawatomie (disambiguation).
Potawatami
Bodéwadmi
Total population
(28,000)
Regions with significant populations
United States (Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Wisconsin)
Canada (Ontario)
Languages
English, Potawatomi
Religion
Catholicism, Methodism, Midewiwin
Related ethnic groups
Ottawa and Ojibwe

The Pottawatomi /ˌpɑːtəˈwɑːtəmiː/,[1] also spelled Pottawatomie and Potawatomi (among many variations), are a Native American people of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River and Western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. The Potawatomi called themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi were part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibwe, Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi were considered the "youngest brother" and were referred to in this context as Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.

In the 19th century, they were pushed to the west by European/American encroachment in the late 18th century and removed from their lands in the Midwest to reservations in Oklahoma. Under Indian Removal, they eventually ceded many of their lands, and most of the Potawatomi relocated to Nebraska, Kansas and Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). Some bands survived in the Midwest and today are federally recognized as tribes. In Canada, some bands are recognized by the government as First Nations; they are based in Ontario.

Name

The English "Potawatomi" is derived from the Ojibwe Boodewaadamii(g) (syncoped in the Ottawa as Boodewaadmii(g)). The Potawatomi name for themselves (autonym) is Bodéwadmi (without syncope: Bodéwademi; plural: Bodéwadmik), a cognate of the Ojibwe form. Their name means "those who keep/tend the hearth-fire," which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires. The word comes from "to keep/tend the hearth-fire," which is bodewadm (without syncope: bodewadem) in the Potawatomi language; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are boodawaadam and boodwaadam, respectively.

Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé; plural: Neshnabék), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe(g), meaning "Original People".

History

Fashion at the Field Museum in Chicago

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 both the Iroquois and the Neutral Nation, who were seeking expanded hunting grounds.

As an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy, Potawatomi warriors took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War. Their alliances switched repeatedly between the Great Britain and the United States as power relations shifted between the nations, and they calculated effects on their trade and land interests.

At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi inhabited the area near Fort Dearborn, where Chicago developed. Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the United States evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; they killed a majority of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force, and wounded many others. George Ronan, the first graduate of West Point to be killed in combat, died in this ambush. The incident is referred to as the Fort Dearborn Massacre. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counseled his fellow warriors against the attack. Later he saved some of the civilian captives who were being ransomed by the Potawatomi.[2] The Mesquaki, another Algonquian people, also bought land in Illinois. It was one of the only states that allowed Indians to purchase land outside reservations. Another band of the Potawatomi had land in Crown Point, Indiana.

Today, the Potawatomi have federally recognized tribes in several states of the upper Midwest, as well as in Kansas and Oklahoma. In Canada, they have several recognized First Nations based in Ontario.

French period (1615–1763)

The French period of contact began with early explorers who reached the Potawatomi in western Michigan. They also found the tribe located along the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. By the end of the French period, the Potawatomi had begun a move to the Detroit area, leaving the large communities in Wisconsin.[2]

English period (1763–1783)

The British period of contact began when France ceded its lands after the defeat in the French and Indian War (aka Seven Years' War). Pontiac's Rebellion was an attempt by Native Americans to push the British and other European settlers out of their territory. The Potawatomi captured every British frontier garrison but the one at Detroit.[2]

The Potawatomi nation continued to grow and expanded westward from Detroit, most notably in the development of the St. Joseph villages adjacent to the Miami in southwestern Michigan. The Wisconsin communities continued and moved south along the Lake Michigan shoreline.[2]

United States treaty period (1783–1830)

The United States Treaty period of Potawatomi history began with the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War and established the United States' interest in the lower Great Lakes. It lasted until the treaties for Indian Removal were signed. The US recognized the Potawatomi as a single tribe. They often had a few tribal leaders whom all villages accepted. The Potawatomi had a decentralized society, with several main divisions based on geographic locations: Milwaukee or Wisconsin area, Detroit or Huron River, the St. Joseph River, the Kankakee River, Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers, the Illinois River and Lake Peoria, and the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers.

The chiefs listed below are grouped by geographic area.

Milwaukee Potawatomi

Chicago Potawatomi

Des Plaines and Fox River Potawatomi

Illinois River Potawatomi

Shabbona

Kankakee River (Iroquois and Yellow Rivers) Potawatomi

St. Joseph and Elkhart Potawatomi

Tippecanoe and Wabash River Potawatomi

Fort Wayne Potawatomi

American removal period (1830–1840)

The removal period of Potawatomi history began with the treaties of the late 1820s, when the United States created reservations. Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson negotiated for the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potowatomi in the Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1829), by which they ceded most of their lands in Wisconsin and Michigan. Some Potawatomi became religious followers of the "Kickapoo Prophet", Kennekuk. Over the years, the US reduced the size of the reservations under pressure for land by incoming European Americans.

The final step followed the Treaty of Chicago, negotiated in 1833 for the tribes by Caldwell and Robinson. In return for land cessions, the US promised new lands, annuities and supplies to enable the peoples to develop new homes. The Illinois Potawatomi were removed to Nebraska and the Indiana Potawatomi to Kansas, both west of the Mississippi River. Often annuities and supplies were reduced, or late in arrival, and the Potawatomi suffered after their relocations. Those in Kansas later were removed to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. The removal of the Indiana Potawatomi was documented by a Catholic priest, Benjamin Petit, who accompanied the Indians on the Potawatomi Trail of Death. Petit died while returning to Indiana. His diary was published in 1941 by the Indiana Historical Society.

Many Potawatomi found ways to remain, primarily those in Michigan. Others fled to their Odawa neighbors or to Canada to avoid removal to the west.

Leopold Pokagon

Bands

Ed Pigeon, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish cultural coordinator and language instructor, with son, 2006
Rain dance, Kansas, c. 1920

There are several active bands of Potawatomi.

United States

Federally recognized Potawatomi tribes in the United States:

Canada - recognized First Nations

Population

YearTotalUnited
States		Canada
1667[6] 4,000
1765[7] 1,500
1766[7] 1,750
1778[7] 2,250
1783[7] 2,000
1795[7] 1,200
1812[7] 2,500
1820[7] 3,400
1843[7] 1,800
1854[6] 4,440 4,040 400
1889[8] 1,582 1,416 166
1908[7] 2,742 2,522 220
1910[6] 2,620 2,440 180
1990[9] 23,000 17,000 4,000
1997[10] 25,000
1998[6] 28,000

Clans

Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mentions among the Potawatomi doodems (clans) being:

  • Bené (Turkey)
  • Gagagshi (Crow)
  • Gnew (Golden Eagle)
  • Jejakwe' (Thunderer, i.e. Crane)
  • Mag (Loon)
  • Mekchi (Frog)
  • Mek (Beaver)
  • Mewi'a (Wolf)
  • Mgezewa (Bald Eagle)
  • Mkedésh-gékékwa (Black Hawk)
  • Mko (Bear)
  • Mshéwé (Elk)
  • Mshike' (Turtle)
  • Nme' (Sturgeon)
  • Nmébena (Carp)
  • Shage'shi (Crab)
  • Wabozo (Rabbit)
  • Wakeshi (Fox)

Ethnobotany

The Prairie Potawatomi use Symphyotrichum novae-angliae as a fumigating reviver.[11]

Location

Trail of Death marker in Warren County, Indiana.

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 seized by the U.S. government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, by which the tribe ceded its lands in Illinois, most of the Potawatomi people were removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Many perished en route to new lands in the west on their journey through Iowa, Kansas and Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), following what became known as the "Trail of Death".

Year or Century Location[12]
1615 East of Michilimackinac, MI
Islands of Door Peninsula, WI (1st Fr)
1640 (until) with Hochunk (Winnebago) west of Green Bay, WI
1641 Sault Ste. Marie, MI
1670 Mouth of Green Bay, WI/MI
17th century Milwaukee River, WI
1780s on St. Joseph River, MI/IN

Language

Main article: Potawatomi 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. It is also spoken by Potawatomi in Kansas and in southern Ontario.[13] There are fewer than 1300 people who speak Potawatomi as a first language, most of them elderly.[14] The people are working to revitalize the language.

The Potawatomi language is most similar to the Odawa language; 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 a great amount of vowel syncope.

Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Allegan, Waukegan, Muskegon, Oconomowoc, Pottawattamie County, and Skokie.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Clifton, James A. (1978). "Potawatomi." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 725
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Edmunds, R. David (1988). The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press (Civilization of the American Indian Series); ISBN 0-8061-2069-X
  3. ↑ http://lakecountyhistory.blogspot.com/2011/03/aptakisic-half-day.html
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 McPherson, Alan (1993). Indian Names in Indiana.
  5. ↑ Dunn, Jacob Piatt (1908). True Indian Stories
  6. 1 2 3 4 Google archives of Sultzman, Lee. (December 18, 1998). "Potawatomi History" at www.tolatsga.org
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Hodges, Frederick Webb (1908). "Potawatomi" in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico
  8. ↑ "Linguistic Families of America" in Seventh Annual Report of the Bureau of Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1885-1886, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1891
  9. ↑ "Potawatomi" at www.firstnationsseeker.ca
  10. ↑ Ethnologue: Potawatomi
  11. ↑ Smith, Huron H. (1933). Ethnobotany of the Forest Potawatomi Indians. Bulletin of the Public Museum of the City of Milwaukee 7:1-230 (p. 50).
  12. ↑ Kubiak, William J. (1970). Great Lakes Indians: A Pictorial Guide. Baker Book House Company.
  13. ↑ Moseley, Christopher (2007). Encyclopedia of the World's Endangered Languages, p. 74. Routledge. ISBN 0-7007-1197-X.
  14. ↑ Hinton, Leanne and Hale, Kenneth (2001). The Green Book of Language Revitalization in Practice, p. 342. Emerald Group Publishing. ISBN 0-12-349353-6.

External links

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