George Catlin (1796 –1872) Osage Indians

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Osage Indians

1630 John Winthrop Dreams of a City on a Hill

John Winthrop, “A Model of Christian Charity,”  John Winthrop delivered the following sermon before he & his fellow settlers reached New England. The sermon is famous largely for its use of the phrase “a city on a hill,” used to describe the expectation that the Massachusetts Bay colony would shine like an example to the world. But Winthrop’s sermon also reveals how he expected Massachusetts to differ from the rest of the world.

A Modell Hereof

God Almighty in his most holy & wise providence hath so disposed of the condition of mankind, as in all times some must be rich some poor, some high & eminent in power & dignity; others mean & in subjection.

The Reason hereof:

1st Reason.

First to hold conformity with the rest of His world, being delighted to show forth the glory of his wisdom in the variety & difference of the creatures, & the glory of His power in ordering all these differences for the preservation & good of the whole, & the glory of His greatness, that as it is the glory of princes to have many officers, so this great king will have many stewards, counting himself more honored in dispensing his gifts to man by man, than if he did it by his own immediate hands.

2nd Reason.

Secondly, that He might have the more occasion to manifest the work of his Spirit: first upon the wicked in moderating & restraining them, so that the rich & mighty should not eat up the poor, nor the poor & despised rise up against & shake off their yoke. Secondly, in the regenerate, in exercising His graces in them, as in the great ones, their love, mercy, gentleness, temperance etc., & in the poor & inferior sort, their faith, patience, obedience etc.

3rd Reason.

Thirdly, that every man might have need of others, & from hence they might be all knit more nearly together in the bonds of brotherly affection. From hence it appears plainly that no man is made more honorable than another or more wealthy etc., out of any particular & singular respect to himself, but for the glory of his Creator & the common good of the creature, Man. Therefore God still reserves the property of these gifts to Himself as Ezek. 16:17, He there calls wealth, His gold & His silver, & Prov. 3:9, He claims their service as His due, “Honor the Lord with thy riches,” etc. — All men being thus (by divine providence) ranked into two sorts, rich & poor; under the first are comprehended all such as are able to live comfortably by their own means duly improved; & all others are poor according to the former distribution….

Question: What rule must we observe & walk by in cause of community of peril?

Answer:

The same as before, but with more enlargement towards others & less respect towards ourselves & our own right. Hence it was that in the primitive Church they sold all, had all things in common, neither did any man say that which he possessed was his own. Likewise in their return out of the captivity, because the work was great for the restoring of the church & the danger of enemies was common to all, Nehemiah directs the Jews to liberality & readiness in remitting their debts to their brethren, & disposing liberally to such as wanted, & stand not upon their own dues which they might have demanded of them. Thus did some of our forefathers in times of persecution in England, & so did many of the faithful of other churches, whereof we keep an honorable remembrance of them; & it is to be observed that both in Scriptures & latter stories of the churches that such as have been most bountiful to the poor saints, especially in those extraordinary times & occasions, God hath left them highly commended to posterity…

Thus stands the cause between God & us. We are entered into covenant with Him for this work. We have taken out a commission. The Lord hath given us leave to draw our own articles. We have professed to enterprise these & those accounts, upon these & those ends. We have hereupon besought Him of favor & blessing. Now if the Lord shall please to hear us, & bring us in peace to the place we desire, then hath He ratified this covenant & sealed our commission, & will expect a strict performance of the articles contained in it; but if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends we have propounded, and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world & prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves & our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, & be revenged of such a people, & make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.

Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, & to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together, in this work, as one man.We must entertain each other in brotherly affection. We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience & liberality. We must delight in each other; make others’ conditions our own; rejoice together, mourn together, labor & suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission & community in the work, as members of the same body. So shall we keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, & delight to dwell among us, as His own people, & will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness & truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise & glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, “may the Lord make it like that of New England.” For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, & so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story & a by-word through the world. We shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God, & all professors for God’s sake. We shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, & cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.

And to shut this discourse with that exhortation of Moses, that faithful servant of the Lord, in his last farewell to Israel, Deut. 30. “Beloved, there is now set before us life & death, good & evil,” in that we are commanded this day to love the Lord our God, & to love one another, to walk in his ways & to keep his Commandments & his ordinance & his laws, & the articles of our Covenant with Him, that we may live & be multiplied, & that the Lord our God may bless us in the land whither we go to possess it. But if our hearts shall turn away, so that we will not obey, but shall be seduced, & worship other Gods, our pleasure & profits, & serve them; it is propounded unto us this day, we shall surely perish out of the good land whither we pass over this vast sea to possess it.

Therefore let us choose life,

that we & our seed may live,

by obeying His voice & cleaving to Him,

for He is our life & our prosperity.

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Osage Chief with Two Warriors

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Osage Chief with Two Warriors

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Oneida Chief, His Sister, and a Missionary

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Oneida Chief, His Sister, and a Missionary

1641 A North American in Canada Gaspesian Indian Defends His Way of Life

French Missionaries in Canada  (I think the Franciscans actuallt wore grey robes with white ties)

Christien Le Clercq, also known as Chrestien Le Clercq (1669-1714), was a French Recollect friar & missionary known for his work among the Mi'kmaq people in Canada during the 17th century. Le Clercq's most notable contribution is his detailed account of the customs, language, & way of life of the Mi'kmaq people. He spent several years living among the Mi'kmaq in the Gaspe Peninsula & compiled his observations into a manuscript called "New Relation of Gaspesia." This work remains an essential historical document providing insights into the culture & traditions of the Mi'kmaq people during that period.

Crestien Le Clercq, New Relation of Gaspesia: With the Customs and Religion of the Gaspesian Indians, William F. Ganong, ed. and trans. Toronto: 1910.  

Chrestien Le Clercq traveled to New France as a missionary, but found that many Native Americans were not interested in adopting European cultural practices. In this document, LeClercq records the words of a Gaspesian Indian who explained why he believed that his way of life was superior to Le Clercq’s.

… the Indians esteem their camps as much as, and even more than, they do the most superb and commodious of our houses. To this they testified one day to some of our gentlemen of Isle Percée, who, having asked me to serve them as interpreter in a visit which they wished to make to these Indians in order to make the latter understand that it would be very much more advantageous for them to live and to build in our fashion, were extremely surprised when the leading Indian, who had listened with great patience to everything I had said to him on behalf of these gentlemen, answered me in these words :

I am greatly astonished that the French have so little cleverness, as they seem to exhibit in the matter of which thou hast just told me on their behalf, in the effort to persuade us to convert our poles, our barks, and our wigwams into those houses of stone and of wood which are tall and lofty, according to their account, as these trees. Very well! But why now, do men of five to six feet in height need houses which are sixty to eighty? For, in fact, as thou knowest very well thyself, Patriarch—do we not find in our own all the conveniences and the advantages that you have with yours, such as reposing, drinking, sleeping, eating, and amusing ourselves with our friends when we wish? This is not all, my brother, hast thou as much ingenuity and cleverness as the Indians, who carry their houses and their wigwams with them so that they may lodge wheresoever they please, independently of any seignior whatsoever? Thou art not as bold nor as stout as we, because when thou goest on a voyage thou canst not carry upon thy shoulders thy buildings and thy edifices. Therefore it is necessary that thou prepares as many lodgings as thou makest changes of residence, or else thou lodgest in a hired house which does not belong to thee. As for us, we find ourselves secure from all these inconveniences, and we can always say, more truly than thou, that we are at home everywhere, because we set up our wigwams with ease wheresoever we go, and without asking permission of anybody. Thou reproachest us, very inappropriately, that our country is a little hell in contrast with France, which thou comparest to a terrestrial paradise, inasmuch as it yields thee, so thou safest, every kind of provision in abundance. Thou sayest of us also that we are the most miserable and most unhappy of all men, living without religion, without manners, without honour, without social order, and, in a word, without any rules, like the beasts in our woods and our forests, lacking bread, wine, and a thousand other comforts which thou hast in superfluity in Europe. Well, my brother, if thou dost not yet know the real feelings which our Indians have towards thy country and towards all thy nation, it is proper that I inform thee at once. I beg thee now to believe that, all miserable as we seem in thine eyes, we consider ourselves nevertheless much happier than thou in this, that we are very content with the little that we have; and believe also once for all, I pray, that thou deceivest thyself greatly if thou thinkest to persuade us that thy country is better than ours.For if France, as thou sayest, is a little terrestrial paradise, art thou sensible to leave it? And why abandon wives, children, relatives, and friends? Why risk thy life and thy property every year, and why venture thyself with such risk, in any season whatsoever, to the storms and tempests of the sea in order to come to a strange and barbarous country which thou considerest the poorest and least fortunate of the world? Besides, since we are wholly convinced of the contrary, we scarcely take the trouble to go to France, because we fear, with good reason, lest we find little satisfaction there, seeing, in our own experience, that those who are natives thereof leave it every year in order to enrich themselves on our shores. We believe, further, that you are also incomparably poorer than we, and that you are only simple journeymen, valets, servants, and slaves, all masters and grand captains though you may appear, seeing that you glory in our old rags and in our miserable suits of beaver which can no longer be of use to us, and that you find among us, in the fishery for cod which you make in these parts, the wherewithal to comfort your misery and the poverty which oppresses you. As to us, we find all our riches and all our conveniences among ourselves, without trouble and without exposing our lives to the dangers in which you find yourselves constantly through your long voyages. And, whilst feeling compassion for you in the sweetness of our repose, we wonder at the anxieties and cares which you give yourselves night and day in order to load your ship. We see also that all your people live, as a rule, only upon cod which you catch among us. It is everlastingly nothing but cod—cod in the morning, cod at midday, cod at evening, and always cod, until things come to such a pass that if you wish some good morsels, it is at our expense; and you are obliged to have recourse to the Indians, whom you despise so much, and to beg them to go a-hunting that you may be regaled. Now tell me this one little thing, if thou hast any sense: Which of these two is the wisest and happiest—he who labours without ceasing and only obtains, and that with great trouble, enough to live on, or he who rests in comfort and finds all that he needs in the pleasure of hunting and fishing? It is true, that we have not always had the use of bread and of wine which your France produces; but, in fact, before the arrival of the French in these parts, did not the Gaspesians live much longer than now? And if we have not any longer among us any of those old men of a hundred and thirty to forty years, it is only because we are gradually adopting your manner of living, for experience is making it very plain that those of us live longest who, despising your bread, your wine, and your brandy, are content with their natural food of beaver, of moose, of waterfowl, and fish, in accord with the custom of our ancestors and of all the Gaspesian nation. Learn now, my brother, once for all, because I must open to thee my heart: there is no Indian who does not consider himself infinitely more happy and more powerful than the French.

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Old Menomonie Chief with Two Young Beaux

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Old Menomonie Chief with Two Young Beaux

1637 Thomas Morton on New England's Native Americans' Respect for their Elders

Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

New English Canaan or New Canaan. Written by Thomas Morton

Printed at Amsterdam by Jacob Fredericck Stam In the Yeare 1637.

Of their Reverence, and respect to age.

It is a thing to be admired, and indeede made a president, that a Nation yet uncivilizied should more respect age then some nations civilized, since there are so many precepts both of divine and humane writers extant to instruct more Civill Nations: in that particular, wherein they excell, the younger are allwayes obedient unto the elder people, and at their commaunds in every respect without grummbling; in all councels, (as therein they are circumspect to do their acciones by advise and councell, and not rashly or inconsiderately,) the younger mens opinion shall be heard, but the old mens opinion and councell imbraced and followed: besides, as the elder feede and provide for the younger in infancy, so doe the younger, after being growne to yeares of manhood, provide for those that be aged: and in distribution of Acctes the elder men are first served by their dispensator; and their counsels (especially if they be powahs) are esteemed as oracles amongst the younger Natives.

The consideration of these things, mee thinkes, should reduce some of our irregular young people of civilized Nations, when this story shall come to their knowledge, to better manners, and make them ashamed of their former error in this kinde, and to become hereafter more duetyfull; which I, as a friend, (by observation having found,) have herein recorded for that purpose.

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Ojibbeway Indians in Paris

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Ojibbeway Indians in Paris

According to Ojibwe oral history & from recordings in birch bark scrolls, the Ojibwe originated from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River on the Atlantic coast of what is now Quebec. They traded widely with other Native Americans across the continent for thousands of years as they migrated, & knew of the canoe routes to move north, west to east, & 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 bounded groups & tried to identify those they encountered.

According to Ojibwe oral history, 7 great miigis (radiant/iridescent) beings appeared to them in the Waabanakiing (Land of the Dawn, i.e., Eastern Land) to teach them the mide way of life. One of the 7 great miigis beings was too spiritually powerful & killed the people in the Waabanakiing, when they were in its presence. The 6 great miigis beings remained to teach, while the one returned into the ocean. The 6 great miigis beings established doodem (clans) for people in the east, symbolized by animal, fish or bird species. The five original Anishinaabe doodem were the Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi (Echo-maker, i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke (Tender, i.e., Bear) & Moozoonsii (Little Moose), then these six miigis beings returned into the ocean as well. If the 7th miigis being 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 the Anishinaabeg did not move further 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) & "Father" (i.e., Abenaki) of their safety to move inland, the Anishinaabeg gradually migrated west along the Saint Lawrence River to the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, & then to the Great Lakes.

The 1st 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 the present-day city of Detroit, Michigan, the Anishinaabeg divided into 6 groups, of which the Ojibwe was one.

The first significant new Ojibwe culture-center was their "4th stopping place" on Manidoo Minising (Manitoulin Island). Their first new political-center was referred to as their "5th stopping place", in their present country at Baawiting (Sault Ste. Marie). Continuing their westward expansion, the Ojibwe divided into the "northern branch", following the north shore of Lake Superior, & the "southern branch", along its south shore.

As the people continued to migrate westward, the "northern branch" divided into a "westerly group" & a "southerly group". The "southern branch" & the "southerly group" of the "northern branch" came together at their "sixth stopping place" on Spirit Island located in the Saint Louis River estuary at the western end of Lake Superior. (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 2nd major settlement, referred to as their "7th stopping place", was at Shaugawaumikong (or Zhaagawaamikong, French, Chequamegon) on 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, & 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.

Interaction with Europeans

The first written mention of 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 & voyageurs), the Ojibwe gained guns, began to use European goods, & began to dominate their traditional enemies, the Lakota & Fox to their west & south. They drove the Sioux from the Upper Mississippi region to the area of the present-day Dakotas, & forced the Fox down from northern Wisconsin. The latter allied with the Sauk for protection.

By the end of the 18C, the Ojibwe controlled nearly all of present-day Michigan, northern Wisconsin, & Minnesota, including most of the Red River area. They also controlled the entire northern shores of lakes Huron & Superior on the Canadian side & extending westward to the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota. In the latter area, the French Canadians called them Ojibwe or Saulteaux.

The Ojibwe (Chippewa) were part of a long-term alliance with the Anishinaabe Ottawa & 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, & the Sioux to the west. The Ojibwa stopped the Iroquois advance into their territory near Lake Superior in 1662. Then they formed an alliance with other tribes such as the Huron & the Ottawa who had been displaced by the Iroquois invasion. Together they launched a massive counter attack against the Iroquois & drove them out of Michigan & Southern Ontario, until they were forced to flee back to their original homeland in upstate New York. At 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 & Georgian Bay.

Often, treaties known as "Peace & Friendship Treaties" were made to establish community bonds between the Ojibwe & the European settlers. These established the groundwork for cooperative resource-sharing between the Ojibwe & the settlers. The United States & 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 US & Canada considered land a commodity of value that could be freely bought, owned & sold.

The Ojibwe believed the land was a fully shared resource, along with air, water & 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, even today, in both Canada & the US, legal arguments in treaty-rights & treaty interpretations often bring to light the differences in cultural understanding of treaty terms to come to legal understanding of the treaty obligations.

In part due to its long trading alliance, the Ojibwe allied with the French against Great Britain & its colonists in the Seven Years' War (also called the French & Indian War). After losing the war in 1763, France was forced to cede its colonial claims to lands in Canada & east of the Mississippi River to Britain. After Pontiac's War & adjusting to British colonial rule, the Ojibwe allied with British forces & 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, & there were violent confrontations. In the Sandy Lake Tragedy, several hundred Ojibwe died because of the federal government's failure to deliver fall annuity payments. Through the efforts of Chief Buffalo & the rise of popular opinion in the US 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 the Potawatomi removal.

Plains Ojibwe Chief Sha-có-pay (The Six). In addition to the northern & eastern woodlands, Ojibwe people also lived on the prairies of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota, western Minnesota & Montana.
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 & the United States following the American Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States did not fully uphold 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 & Wisconsin, & northern Minnesota & North Dakota to settle the boundary of their holdings in Canada.

In 1807, the Ojibwe joined 3 other tribes, the Odawa, Potawatomi & Wyandot people, in signing the Treaty of Detroit. The agreement, between the tribes & William Hull, representing the Michigan Territory, gave the United States a portion of today's Southeastern Michigan & a section of Ohio near the Maumee River. The tribes were able to retain small pockets of land in the territory.

During its Indian Removal of the 1830s, the US government attempted to relocate tribes from the east to the west of the Mississippi River as the white pioneers increasingly migrated west. By the late 19th century, the government policy was to move tribes onto reservations within their territories. The government attempted to do this to the Anishinaabe in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Ojibwe live in groups (otherwise known as "bands"). Most Ojibwe, except for the Great Plains bands, lived a sedentary lifestyle, engaging in fishing & hunting to supplement the women's cultivation of numerous varieties of maize & squash, & the harvesting of manoomin (wild rice). Their typical dwelling was the wiigiwaam (wigwam), built either as a waginogaan (domed-lodge) or as a nasawa'ogaan (pointed-lodge), made of birch bark, juniper bark & willow saplings.

They developed a form of pictorial writing, used in religious rites of the Midewiwin & recorded on birch bark scrolls & possibly on rock. The many complex pictures on the sacred scrolls communicate much historical, geometrical, & mathematical knowledge. The use of petroforms, petroglyphs, & pictographs was common throughout the Ojibwe traditional territories. Petroforms & medicine wheels were a way to teach the important concepts of 4 directions & astronomical observations about the seasons, & to use as a memorizing tool for certain stories & beliefs.

Ceremonies also used the miigis shell (cowry shell), which is found naturally in distant coastal areas. Their use of such shells demonstrates there was a vast trade network across the continent at some time. The use & 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 & arrow heads were also traded over large distances.

During the summer months, the people attend jiingotamog for the spiritual & niimi'idimaa for a social gathering (pow-wows or "pau waus") 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, & making maple sugar. Many of the Ojibwe take part in sun dance ceremonies across the continent. The sacred scrolls are kept hidden away until those who are worthy & respect them are given permission to see & interpret them properly.

The Ojibwe would not bury their dead in a burial mound. Many erect a jiibegamig or a "spirit-house" over each mound. A traditional burial mound would typically have 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.

As with various other North American peoples, the Ojibwe culture includes a third gender. Ojibwe Two-Spirit women take on men's roles, classified as either "Iron Woman" or "Half Sky". Generally, two-spirit men practiced Shamanism & it was taboo for women to take on this role, but a two-spirit following this path was called an Iron Woman. The Half Sky two-spirit would be physically good at a man's trade (like hunting). Also, there is an instance when a wife becomes a widow & takes on her husband's manly deeds; this woman is called a "Woman Covered All Over". (Landes 153, 176, 178-179, & Merriam- Webster Dictionary).

Several Ojibwe bands in the United States cooperate in the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, which manages the treaty hunting & 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 & fishing rights in the Arrowhead Region. In Michigan, the Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority manages the hunting, fishing & gathering rights about Sault Ste. Marie, & the resources of the waters of lakes Michigan & Huron. In Canada, the Grand Council of Treaty No. 3 manages the Treaty 3 hunting & fishing rights related to the area around Lake of the Woods.

Evolution of the Kinship & Clan system

Traditionally, the Ojibwe had a patrilineal system, in which children were considered born to the father's clan. For this reason, children with French or English fathers were considered outside the clan & 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 & her children, but they did not have the same place in the culture as children born to Ojibwe fathers.

Ojibwe understanding of kinship is complex, & includes not only the immediate family but also the 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 the same kinship term with younger cross-cousins. Complexity wanes further from the speaker'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 & older generations, as well as great-grandchildren & younger generations, are collectively called aanikoobijigan. This system of kinship reflects the Anishinaabe philosophy of interconnectedness & balance among all living generations, as well as of all generations of the past & of the future.

The Ojibwe people were divided into a number of odoodeman (clans; singular: doodem) named primarily for animals & birds totems (pronounced doodem). The five original totems were Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi ("Echo-maker", i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke ("Tender", i.e., Bear) & Moozwaanowe ("Little" Moose-tail). The Crane totem was the most vocal among the Ojibwe, & the Bear was the largest – so large, that it was sub-divided into body parts such as the head, the ribs & 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 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)

1637 Thomas Morton on New England's Native Americans' Childbearing

Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

New English Canaan or New Canaan. Written by Thomas Morton

Printed at Amsterdam by Jacob Fredericck Stam In the Yeare 1637.

Of their Child-bearing, and delivery, and what manner of persons they are.

The women of this Country are not suffered to be used for procreation untill the ripenesse of their age, at which time they weare a redd cap made of lether, in forme like to our flat caps, and this they weare for the space of 12 moneths, for all men to take notice of them that have any minde to a wife; and then it is the custome of some of their Sachems or Lords of the territories, to have the first say or maidenhead of the females. Very apt they are to be with childe, and very laborious when they beare children; yea, The women big with child very laborious. when they are as great as they can be: yet in that case they neither forbeare laboure, nor travaile; I have seene them in that plight with burthens at their backs enough to load a horse; yet doe they not miscarry, but have a faire delivery, and a quick: their women are very good midwifes, and the women very lusty after delivery, and in a day or two will travell or trudge about. Their infants are borne with haire on their heads, and are of complexion white as our nation; but their mothers in their infancy Children bathed to staine the skinne. make a bath of Wallnut leaves, huskes of Walnuts, and such things as will staine their skinne for ever, wherein they dip and washe them to make them tawny; the coloure of their haire is black, and their eyes black. These infants are carried at their mothers backs by the help of a cradle made of a board forket at both ends, whereon the childe is fast bound and wrapped in furres; his knees thrust up towards his bellie, because they may be the more usefull for them when he sitteth, which is as a dogge does on his bumme: and this cradle surely preserues them better then the cradles of our nation, for as much as we finde them well proportioned, not any of them crooked backed or wry legged: and to give their charracter in a worde, they are as proper men and women for feature and limbes as can be found, for flesh and bloud as active: longe handed they are, (I never sawe a clunchfisted Salvadg amongst them all in my time.) The colour of their eies being so generally black made a Salvage, that had a younge infant whose eies were gray, shewed him to us, and said they were English mens eies; I tould the Father that his sonne was nan weeteo, which is a bastard; hee replied titta Cheshetue squaa, which is, hee could not tell, his wife might play the whore; and this childe the father desired might have an English name, because of the litenesse of his eies, which his father had in admiration because of novelty amongst their nation.

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Ojibbeway Indians

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Ojibbeway Indians

According to Ojibwe oral history & from recordings in birch bark scrolls, the Ojibwe originated from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River on the Atlantic coast of what is now Quebec. They traded widely with other Native Americans across the continent for thousands of years as they migrated, & knew of the canoe routes to move north, west to east, & 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 bounded groups & tried to identify those they encountered.

According to Ojibwe oral history, 7 great miigis (radiant/iridescent) beings appeared to them in the Waabanakiing (Land of the Dawn, i.e., Eastern Land) to teach them the mide way of life. One of the 7 great miigis beings was too spiritually powerful & killed the people in the Waabanakiing, when they were in its presence. The 6 great miigis beings remained to teach, while the one returned into the ocean. The 6 great miigis beings established doodem (clans) for people in the east, symbolized by animal, fish or bird species. The five original Anishinaabe doodem were the Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi (Echo-maker, i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke (Tender, i.e., Bear) & Moozoonsii (Little Moose), then these six miigis beings returned into the ocean as well. If the 7th miigis being 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 the Anishinaabeg did not move further 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) & "Father" (i.e., Abenaki) of their safety to move inland, the Anishinaabeg gradually migrated west along the Saint Lawrence River to the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, & then to the Great Lakes.

The 1st 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 the present-day city of Detroit, Michigan, the Anishinaabeg divided into 6 groups, of which the Ojibwe was one.

The first significant new Ojibwe culture-center was their "4th stopping place" on Manidoo Minising (Manitoulin Island). Their first new political-center was referred to as their "5th stopping place", in their present country at Baawiting (Sault Ste. Marie). Continuing their westward expansion, the Ojibwe divided into the "northern branch", following the north shore of Lake Superior, & the "southern branch", along its south shore.

As the people continued to migrate westward, the "northern branch" divided into a "westerly group" & a "southerly group". The "southern branch" & the "southerly group" of the "northern branch" came together at their "sixth stopping place" on Spirit Island located in the Saint Louis River estuary at the western end of Lake Superior. (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 2nd major settlement, referred to as their "7th stopping place", was at Shaugawaumikong (or Zhaagawaamikong, French, Chequamegon) on 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, & 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.

Interaction with Europeans

The first written mention of 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 & voyageurs), the Ojibwe gained guns, began to use European goods, & began to dominate their traditional enemies, the Lakota & Fox to their west & south. They drove the Sioux from the Upper Mississippi region to the area of the present-day Dakotas, & forced the Fox down from northern Wisconsin. The latter allied with the Sauk for protection.

By the end of the 18C, the Ojibwe controlled nearly all of present-day Michigan, northern Wisconsin, & Minnesota, including most of the Red River area. They also controlled the entire northern shores of lakes Huron & Superior on the Canadian side & extending westward to the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota. In the latter area, the French Canadians called them Ojibwe or Saulteaux.

The Ojibwe (Chippewa) were part of a long-term alliance with the Anishinaabe Ottawa & 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, & the Sioux to the west. The Ojibwa stopped the Iroquois advance into their territory near Lake Superior in 1662. Then they formed an alliance with other tribes such as the Huron & the Ottawa who had been displaced by the Iroquois invasion. Together they launched a massive counter attack against the Iroquois & drove them out of Michigan & Southern Ontario, until they were forced to flee back to their original homeland in upstate New York. At 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 & Georgian Bay.

Often, treaties known as "Peace & Friendship Treaties" were made to establish community bonds between the Ojibwe & the European settlers. These established the groundwork for cooperative resource-sharing between the Ojibwe & the settlers. The United States & 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 US & Canada considered land a commodity of value that could be freely bought, owned & sold.

The Ojibwe believed the land was a fully shared resource, along with air, water & 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, even today, in both Canada & the US, legal arguments in treaty-rights & treaty interpretations often bring to light the differences in cultural understanding of treaty terms to come to legal understanding of the treaty obligations.

In part due to its long trading alliance, the Ojibwe allied with the French against Great Britain & its colonists in the Seven Years' War (also called the French & Indian War). After losing the war in 1763, France was forced to cede its colonial claims to lands in Canada & east of the Mississippi River to Britain. After Pontiac's War & adjusting to British colonial rule, the Ojibwe allied with British forces & 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, & there were violent confrontations. In the Sandy Lake Tragedy, several hundred Ojibwe died because of the federal government's failure to deliver fall annuity payments. Through the efforts of Chief Buffalo & the rise of popular opinion in the US 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 the Potawatomi removal.

Plains Ojibwe Chief Sha-có-pay (The Six). In addition to the northern & eastern woodlands, Ojibwe people also lived on the prairies of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota, western Minnesota & Montana.
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 & the United States following the American Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States did not fully uphold 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 & Wisconsin, & northern Minnesota & North Dakota to settle the boundary of their holdings in Canada.

In 1807, the Ojibwe joined 3 other tribes, the Odawa, Potawatomi & Wyandot people, in signing the Treaty of Detroit. The agreement, between the tribes & William Hull, representing the Michigan Territory, gave the United States a portion of today's Southeastern Michigan & a section of Ohio near the Maumee River. The tribes were able to retain small pockets of land in the territory.

During its Indian Removal of the 1830s, the US government attempted to relocate tribes from the east to the west of the Mississippi River as the white pioneers increasingly migrated west. By the late 19th century, the government policy was to move tribes onto reservations within their territories. The government attempted to do this to the Anishinaabe in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Ojibwe live in groups (otherwise known as "bands"). Most Ojibwe, except for the Great Plains bands, lived a sedentary lifestyle, engaging in fishing & hunting to supplement the women's cultivation of numerous varieties of maize & squash, & the harvesting of manoomin (wild rice). Their typical dwelling was the wiigiwaam (wigwam), built either as a waginogaan (domed-lodge) or as a nasawa'ogaan (pointed-lodge), made of birch bark, juniper bark & willow saplings.

They developed a form of pictorial writing, used in religious rites of the Midewiwin & recorded on birch bark scrolls & possibly on rock. The many complex pictures on the sacred scrolls communicate much historical, geometrical, & mathematical knowledge. The use of petroforms, petroglyphs, & pictographs was common throughout the Ojibwe traditional territories. Petroforms & medicine wheels were a way to teach the important concepts of 4 directions & astronomical observations about the seasons, & to use as a memorizing tool for certain stories & beliefs.

Ceremonies also used the miigis shell (cowry shell), which is found naturally in distant coastal areas. Their use of such shells demonstrates there was a vast trade network across the continent at some time. The use & 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 & arrow heads were also traded over large distances.

During the summer months, the people attend jiingotamog for the spiritual & niimi'idimaa for a social gathering (pow-wows or "pau waus") 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, & making maple sugar. Many of the Ojibwe take part in sun dance ceremonies across the continent. The sacred scrolls are kept hidden away until those who are worthy & respect them are given permission to see & interpret them properly.

The Ojibwe would not bury their dead in a burial mound. Many erect a jiibegamig or a "spirit-house" over each mound. A traditional burial mound would typically have 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.

As with various other North American peoples, the Ojibwe culture includes a third gender. Ojibwe Two-Spirit women take on men's roles, classified as either "Iron Woman" or "Half Sky". Generally, two-spirit men practiced Shamanism & it was taboo for women to take on this role, but a two-spirit following this path was called an Iron Woman. The Half Sky two-spirit would be physically good at a man's trade (like hunting). Also, there is an instance when a wife becomes a widow & takes on her husband's manly deeds; this woman is called a "Woman Covered All Over". (Landes 153, 176, 178-179, & Merriam- Webster Dictionary).

Several Ojibwe bands in the United States cooperate in the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, which manages the treaty hunting & 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 & fishing rights in the Arrowhead Region. In Michigan, the Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority manages the hunting, fishing & gathering rights about Sault Ste. Marie, & the resources of the waters of lakes Michigan & Huron. In Canada, the Grand Council of Treaty No. 3 manages the Treaty 3 hunting & fishing rights related to the area around Lake of the Woods.

Evolution of the Kinship & Clan system

Traditionally, the Ojibwe had a patrilineal system, in which children were considered born to the father's clan. For this reason, children with French or English fathers were considered outside the clan & 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 & her children, but they did not have the same place in the culture as children born to Ojibwe fathers.

Ojibwe understanding of kinship is complex, & includes not only the immediate family but also the 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 the same kinship term with younger cross-cousins. Complexity wanes further from the speaker'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 & older generations, as well as great-grandchildren & younger generations, are collectively called aanikoobijigan. This system of kinship reflects the Anishinaabe philosophy of interconnectedness & balance among all living generations, as well as of all generations of the past & of the future.

The Ojibwe people were divided into a number of odoodeman (clans; singular: doodem) named primarily for animals & birds totems (pronounced doodem). The five original totems were Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi ("Echo-maker", i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke ("Tender", i.e., Bear) & Moozwaanowe ("Little" Moose-tail). The Crane totem was the most vocal among the Ojibwe, & the Bear was the largest – so large, that it was sub-divided into body parts such as the head, the ribs & 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 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)

1637 Thomas Morton on New England's Native Americans' Clothing

Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

New English Canaan or New Canaan. Written by Thomas Morton

Printed at Amsterdam by Jacob Fredericck Stam In the Yeare 1637.

Of the Indians apparrell.

The Indians in these parts do make their apparrell of the skinnes of severall sortes of beastes, and commonly of those that doe frequent those partes where they doe live; yet some of them, for variety, will have the skinnes of such beasts that frequent the partes of their neighbors, which they purchase of them by Commerce and Trade.

These skinnes they convert into very good lether, making the same plume and soft. Some of these skinnes they dresse with the haire on, and some with the haire off; the hairy side in winter time they weare next their bodies, and in warme weather they weare the haire outwardes: they make likewise some Coates of the Feathers of Turkies, which they weave together with twine of their owne makinge, very prittily: these garments they weare like mantels knit over their shoulders, and put under their arme: they have likewise another sort of mantels, made of Mose skinnes, which beast is a great large Deere so bigge as a horse; these skinnes they commonly dresse bare, and Indians ingenious workemen for their garments. make them wondrous white, and stripe them with size round about the borders, in forme like lace set on by a Taylor, and some they stripe with size in workes of severall fashions very curious, according to the severall fantasies of the workemen, wherein they strive to excell one another: And Mantels made of Beares skinnes is an usuall wearinge, among the Natives that live where the Beares doe haunt: they make shooes of Mose skinnes, which is the principall leather used to that purpose; and for want of such lether (which is the strongest) they make shooes of Deeres skinnes, very handsomly and commodious; and, of such deeres skinnes as they dresse bare, they make stockinges that comes within their shooes, like a stirrop stockinge, and is fastned above at their belt, which is about their middell; Every male, after hee The modesty of the Indian men. attaines unto the age which they call Pubes, wereth a belt about his middell, and a broad peece of lether that goeth betweene his leggs and is tuckt up both before and behinde under that belt; and this they weare to hide their secreats of nature, which by no meanes they will suffer to be seene, so much modesty they use in that particular; those garments they allwayes put on, when they goe a huntinge, to keepe their skinnes from the brush of the Shrubbs: and when they have their Apparrell one they looke like Irish in their trouses, the Stockinges joyne so to their breeches. A good well growne deere skin is of great account with them, and it must have the tale on, or else they account it defaced; the tale being three times as long as the tales of our English Deere, yea foure times so longe, this when they travell is raped round about their body, and, Indians travaile with materials to strike fire at all times. with a girdle of their making, bound round about their middles, to which girdle is fastned a bagg, in which his instruments be with which hee can strike fire upon any occasion.

Thus with their bow in their left hand, and their quiuer of Arrowes at their back, hanging one their left shoulder with the lower end of it in their right hand, they will runne away a dogg trot untill they come to their journey end; and, in this kinde of ornament, they doe seeme to me to be hansomer then when they are in English apparrell, their gesture being answerable to their one habit and not unto ours.

Their women have shooes and stockinges to weare likewise when they please, such as the men have, but the mantle they use to cover their nakednesse with is much longer then that which the men use; for, as the men have one Deeres skinn, the women have two soed together at the full lenght, and it is so lardge that it trailes after them like a great Ladies trane; and in time I thinke they may have their Pages to beare them up; and where the men use but one Beares skinn for a Mantle, the women have two soed together; and if any of their women would at any time shift one, they take that which they intend to make use of, and cast it over them round, before they shifte away the other, for modesty, being unwilling to be seene to discover The Indians ashamed of their nakednesse. their nakednesse; and the one being so cast over, they slip the other from under them in a decent manner, which is to be noted in people uncivilized; therein they seeme to have as much modesty as civilized people, and deserve to be applauded for it.

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Nine Ojibbeway Indians in London

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Nine Ojibbeway Indians in London

According to Ojibwe oral history & from recordings in birch bark scrolls, the Ojibwe originated from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River on the Atlantic coast of what is now Quebec. They traded widely with other Native Americans across the continent for thousands of years as they migrated, & knew of the canoe routes to move north, west to east, & 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 bounded groups & tried to identify those they encountered.

According to Ojibwe oral history, 7 great miigis (radiant/iridescent) beings appeared to them in the Waabanakiing (Land of the Dawn, i.e., Eastern Land) to teach them the mide way of life. One of the 7 great miigis beings was too spiritually powerful & killed the people in the Waabanakiing, when they were in its presence. The 6 great miigis beings remained to teach, while the one returned into the ocean. The 6 great miigis beings established doodem (clans) for people in the east, symbolized by animal, fish or bird species. The five original Anishinaabe doodem were the Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi (Echo-maker, i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke (Tender, i.e., Bear) & Moozoonsii (Little Moose), then these six miigis beings returned into the ocean as well. If the 7th miigis being 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 the Anishinaabeg did not move further 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) & "Father" (i.e., Abenaki) of their safety to move inland, the Anishinaabeg gradually migrated west along the Saint Lawrence River to the Ottawa River to Lake Nipissing, & then to the Great Lakes.

The 1st 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 the present-day city of Detroit, Michigan, the Anishinaabeg divided into 6 groups, of which the Ojibwe was one.

The first significant new Ojibwe culture-center was their "4th stopping place" on Manidoo Minising (Manitoulin Island). Their first new political-center was referred to as their "5th stopping place", in their present country at Baawiting (Sault Ste. Marie). Continuing their westward expansion, the Ojibwe divided into the "northern branch", following the north shore of Lake Superior, & the "southern branch", along its south shore.

As the people continued to migrate westward, the "northern branch" divided into a "westerly group" & a "southerly group". The "southern branch" & the "southerly group" of the "northern branch" came together at their "sixth stopping place" on Spirit Island located in the Saint Louis River estuary at the western end of Lake Superior. (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 2nd major settlement, referred to as their "7th stopping place", was at Shaugawaumikong (or Zhaagawaamikong, French, Chequamegon) on 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, & 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.

Interaction with Europeans

The first written mention of 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 & voyageurs), the Ojibwe gained guns, began to use European goods, & began to dominate their traditional enemies, the Lakota & Fox to their west & south. They drove the Sioux from the Upper Mississippi region to the area of the present-day Dakotas, & forced the Fox down from northern Wisconsin. The latter allied with the Sauk for protection.

By the end of the 18C, the Ojibwe controlled nearly all of present-day Michigan, northern Wisconsin, & Minnesota, including most of the Red River area. They also controlled the entire northern shores of lakes Huron & Superior on the Canadian side & extending westward to the Turtle Mountains of North Dakota. In the latter area, the French Canadians called them Ojibwe or Saulteaux.

The Ojibwe (Chippewa) were part of a long-term alliance with the Anishinaabe Ottawa & 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, & the Sioux to the west. The Ojibwa stopped the Iroquois advance into their territory near Lake Superior in 1662. Then they formed an alliance with other tribes such as the Huron & the Ottawa who had been displaced by the Iroquois invasion. Together they launched a massive counter attack against the Iroquois & drove them out of Michigan & Southern Ontario, until they were forced to flee back to their original homeland in upstate New York. At 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 & Georgian Bay.

Often, treaties known as "Peace & Friendship Treaties" were made to establish community bonds between the Ojibwe & the European settlers. These established the groundwork for cooperative resource-sharing between the Ojibwe & the settlers. The United States & 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 US & Canada considered land a commodity of value that could be freely bought, owned & sold.

The Ojibwe believed the land was a fully shared resource, along with air, water & 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, even today, in both Canada & the US, legal arguments in treaty-rights & treaty interpretations often bring to light the differences in cultural understanding of treaty terms to come to legal understanding of the treaty obligations.

In part due to its long trading alliance, the Ojibwe allied with the French against Great Britain & its colonists in the Seven Years' War (also called the French & Indian War). After losing the war in 1763, France was forced to cede its colonial claims to lands in Canada & east of the Mississippi River to Britain. After Pontiac's War & adjusting to British colonial rule, the Ojibwe allied with British forces & 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, & there were violent confrontations. In the Sandy Lake Tragedy, several hundred Ojibwe died because of the federal government's failure to deliver fall annuity payments. Through the efforts of Chief Buffalo & the rise of popular opinion in the US 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 the Potawatomi removal.

Plains Ojibwe Chief Sha-có-pay (The Six). In addition to the northern & eastern woodlands, Ojibwe people also lived on the prairies of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, North Dakota, western Minnesota & Montana.
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 & the United States following the American Revolutionary War, the newly formed United States did not fully uphold 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 & Wisconsin, & northern Minnesota & North Dakota to settle the boundary of their holdings in Canada.

In 1807, the Ojibwe joined 3 other tribes, the Odawa, Potawatomi & Wyandot people, in signing the Treaty of Detroit. The agreement, between the tribes & William Hull, representing the Michigan Territory, gave the United States a portion of today's Southeastern Michigan & a section of Ohio near the Maumee River. The tribes were able to retain small pockets of land in the territory.

During its Indian Removal of the 1830s, the US government attempted to relocate tribes from the east to the west of the Mississippi River as the white pioneers increasingly migrated west. By the late 19th century, the government policy was to move tribes onto reservations within their territories. The government attempted to do this to the Anishinaabe in the Keweenaw Peninsula in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.

The Ojibwe live in groups (otherwise known as "bands"). Most Ojibwe, except for the Great Plains bands, lived a sedentary lifestyle, engaging in fishing & hunting to supplement the women's cultivation of numerous varieties of maize & squash, & the harvesting of manoomin (wild rice). Their typical dwelling was the wiigiwaam (wigwam), built either as a waginogaan (domed-lodge) or as a nasawa'ogaan (pointed-lodge), made of birch bark, juniper bark & willow saplings.

They developed a form of pictorial writing, used in religious rites of the Midewiwin & recorded on birch bark scrolls & possibly on rock. The many complex pictures on the sacred scrolls communicate much historical, geometrical, & mathematical knowledge. The use of petroforms, petroglyphs, & pictographs was common throughout the Ojibwe traditional territories. Petroforms & medicine wheels were a way to teach the important concepts of 4 directions & astronomical observations about the seasons, & to use as a memorizing tool for certain stories & beliefs.

Ceremonies also used the miigis shell (cowry shell), which is found naturally in distant coastal areas. Their use of such shells demonstrates there was a vast trade network across the continent at some time. The use & 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 & arrow heads were also traded over large distances.

During the summer months, the people attend jiingotamog for the spiritual & niimi'idimaa for a social gathering (pow-wows or "pau waus") 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, & making maple sugar. Many of the Ojibwe take part in sun dance ceremonies across the continent. The sacred scrolls are kept hidden away until those who are worthy & respect them are given permission to see & interpret them properly.

The Ojibwe would not bury their dead in a burial mound. Many erect a jiibegamig or a "spirit-house" over each mound. A traditional burial mound would typically have 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.

As with various other North American peoples, the Ojibwe culture includes a third gender. Ojibwe Two-Spirit women take on men's roles, classified as either "Iron Woman" or "Half Sky". Generally, two-spirit men practiced Shamanism & it was taboo for women to take on this role, but a two-spirit following this path was called an Iron Woman. The Half Sky two-spirit would be physically good at a man's trade (like hunting). Also, there is an instance when a wife becomes a widow & takes on her husband's manly deeds; this woman is called a "Woman Covered All Over". (Landes 153, 176, 178-179, & Merriam- Webster Dictionary).

Several Ojibwe bands in the United States cooperate in the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Commission, which manages the treaty hunting & 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 & fishing rights in the Arrowhead Region. In Michigan, the Chippewa-Ottawa Resource Authority manages the hunting, fishing & gathering rights about Sault Ste. Marie, & the resources of the waters of lakes Michigan & Huron. In Canada, the Grand Council of Treaty No. 3 manages the Treaty 3 hunting & fishing rights related to the area around Lake of the Woods.

Evolution of the Kinship & Clan system

Traditionally, the Ojibwe had a patrilineal system, in which children were considered born to the father's clan. For this reason, children with French or English fathers were considered outside the clan & 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 & her children, but they did not have the same place in the culture as children born to Ojibwe fathers.

Ojibwe understanding of kinship is complex, & includes not only the immediate family but also the 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 the same kinship term with younger cross-cousins. Complexity wanes further from the speaker'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 & older generations, as well as great-grandchildren & younger generations, are collectively called aanikoobijigan. This system of kinship reflects the Anishinaabe philosophy of interconnectedness & balance among all living generations, as well as of all generations of the past & of the future.

The Ojibwe people were divided into a number of odoodeman (clans; singular: doodem) named primarily for animals & birds totems (pronounced doodem). The five original totems were Wawaazisii (Bullhead), Baswenaazhi ("Echo-maker", i.e., Crane), Aan'aawenh (Pintail Duck), Nooke ("Tender", i.e., Bear) & Moozwaanowe ("Little" Moose-tail). The Crane totem was the most vocal among the Ojibwe, & the Bear was the largest – so large, that it was sub-divided into body parts such as the head, the ribs & 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 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)

1637 Thomas Morton on New England's Houses and Habitations of Native Americans

Seal of the Massachusetts Bay Colony

New English Canaan or New Canaan. Written by Thomas Morton

Printed at Amsterdam by Jacob Fredericck Stam In the Yeare 1637.

Of their Houses and Habitations.

The Natives of New England are accustomed to build them houses much like the wild Irish; they gather Poles in the woodes and put the great end of them in the ground, placinge them in forme of a circle or circumference, and, bendinge the topps of them in forme of an Arch, they bind them together with the Barke of Walnut trees, which is wondrous tuffe, so that they make the same round on the Topp for the smooke of their fire to assend and passe through; these they cover with matts, some made of reeds and some of longe flagges, or sedge, finely sowed together with needles made of the splinter bones of a Cranes legge, with threeds made of their Indian hempe, which their groueth naturally, leaving severall places for dores, which are covered with mats, which may be rowled up and let downe againe at their pleasures, making use of the severall dores, according as the winde sitts. The fire is alwayes made in the middest of the house, with winde fals commonly: yet some times they fell a tree that groweth neere the house, and, by drawing in the end thereof, maintaine the fire on both sids, burning the tree by Degrees shorter and shorter, untill it be all consumed; for it burneth night and day. Their lodging is made in three places of the house about the fire; they lye upon plankes, commonly about a foote or 18. inches aboue the ground, raised upon railes that are borne up upon forks; they lay mats under them, and Coats of Deares skinnes, otters, beavers, Racownes, and of Beares hides, all which they have dressed and converted into good lether, with the haire on, for their coverings: and in this manner they lye as warme as they desire. In the night they take their rest; in the day time, either the kettle is on with fish or flesh, by no allowance, or else the fire is imployed in roasting of fishes, which they delight in.The aire doeth beget good stomacks, and they feede continually, and are no niggards of their vittels; for they are willing that any one shall eate with them. Nay, if any one that shall come into their  houses and there fall a sleepe, when they see him disposed to lye downe, they will spreade a matt for him of their owne accord, and lay a roule of skinnes for a boulster, and let him lye. If hee sleepe untill their meate be dished up, they will set a wooden boule of meate by him that sleepeth, and wake him saying, Cattup keene Meckin: That is, If you be hungry, there is meat for you, where if you will eate you may. Such is their Humanity.

Likewise, when they are minded to remoove, they carry away the mats with them; other materiales the place adjoyning will yeald. They use not to winter and summer in one place, for that would be a reason to make fuell scarse; but, after the manner of the gentry of Civilized natives, remoove for their pleasures; some times to their hunting places, where they remaine keeping good hospitality for that season; and sometimes to their fishing places, where they abide for that season likewise: and at the spring, when fish comes in plentifully, they have meetinges from severall places, where they exercise themselves in gaminge and playing of juglinge trickes and all manner of Revelles, which they are deligted in; [so] that it is admirable to behould what pastime they use of severall kindes, every one striving to surpasse each other. After this manner they spend their time.

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Nayas Indian Chief his Wife and a Warrior

George Catlin (1796 –1872) Nayas Indian Chief his Wife and a Warrior

1674-1702 Native Americans & West New Jersey

Lenape & Susquehannocks

For most of the 17C, Lenape Algonquian people exerted the greatest political & economic control over the country from central New Jersey through eastern Pennsylvania & along the Delaware Bay to its mouth at Cape Henlopen (Sussex County). Led by sachems & councils of elders, they lived in unpalisaded towns & spoke Unami. Over the course of the century, these Lenape natives created with European settlers a distinctive society that valued peace over conflict, religious freedom, collaboration, respect for diverse people, & local authority. Nonetheless, desire for profits led to contention, & native traders shifted among European nations to obtain the quantity & quality of goods they sought. Exchange provided the source of the Lenapes’ power, which they used to provoke colonial rivalries.

Inland, Susquehannock (Minquas) peoples living in fortified villages along the Susquehanna River proved especially determined to maintain independence in the fur trade, & played Swedes, Dutch, & English against each other. A decade of intermittent war with Lenapes between 1626 & 1636 typified the larger contest for control over furs in the North Atlantic world. The outcome earned Susquehannock traders the right to do business in Lenape areas along Delaware Bay & instigated a trade alliance among the groups.

Native Americans & West New Jersey
By Jean R. Soderlund  For The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia & Rutgers University HERE

...Between 1674 & 1702, New Jersey was divided in half: The proprietary West New Jersey colony faced the Delaware River while East New Jersey looked toward the Hudson. Although this political division lasted less than 3 decades, it represented long-standing geographical orientations of the Lenape & Munsee native inhabitants & European colonists. Benjamin Franklin (1706-90) reputedly called New Jersey “a barrel tapped at both ends,” a productive countryside exploited by Philadelphia & New York...

Native Americans lived in the Delaware Valley at least 10,000 years before the Dutch, Swedes, Finns, & English arrived in the 17C. The Lenapes, who controlled southern & western New Jersey, lived in autonomous towns along creeks leading to the Delaware River & along the Atlantic coast near Delaware Bay. Some Lenape peoples, such as the Armewamese & Cohanseys, possessed land on both sides of the river in what are now Pennsylvania, Delaware, & New Jersey. Because Lenapes traveled frequently by canoe, they viewed rivers & streams as highways rather than obstacles.

Prior to the founding of West New Jersey in 1674, European population in the region remained sparse. A small Dutch settlement on Matinicum (now Burlington) Island lasted only from 1624 until 1626 when, on a site across the river from current Philadelphia, Dutch traders established Fort Nassau. A group of New Englanders in 1641 obtained the Lenapes’ permission to colonize several Delaware Valley locations, one at Varkens Kill (now Salem Creek). Dutch opposition & disease destroyed the colony; a small remnant of English settlers became part of the population of New Sweden, which existed from 1638 to 1655 primarily on the west bank of the Delaware. The Dutch conquered New Sweden in 1655 & held the Delaware colony until 1664, when English forces of James, Duke of York (1633-1701) took control.

A few Dutch & French colonists moved to southwestern New Jersey in the late 1660s, purchasing land from the Lenapes. A few years later, Swedish & Finnish settlers followed suit, departing from the west bank of the Delaware River in rebellion against English land policies, including assessment of quit-rents & expropriation of common lands.

The Colony of New Jersey, 1664
The English king Charles II (1630-85) initiated the proprietary colony of New Jersey in 1664, when he granted his brother James, Duke of York the rights of proprietorship, including the power to govern & ability to own & sell land. The duke in turn granted New Jersey to Sir John Berkeley (1602-78) & Sir George Carteret (c. 1610-80). In 1674, the proprietorship of New Jersey was divided in half, with Berkeley taking West New Jersey, which he promptly sold to John Fenwick (c. 1618-1683) in trust for Edward Byllynge (c. 1623-1687). When the English Quakers Fenwick & Byllynge quarreled, 3 Quaker trustees, including William Penn (1644-1718), mediated the dispute. Adding to these difficulties, the Duke of York refused to transfer the power to govern West New Jersey to the Quaker proprietors.  Complicated financial deals & lawsuits arising from the dispute between Fenwick & Byllynge resulted in 2 initial Quaker settlements in West New Jersey: Salem, founded in 1675, & Burlington in 1677...

The Quaker colonists arrived in southern New Jersey in 1675, entering a country dominated by Lenapes where some Europeans, mostly Swedes, Finns, & Dutch, had settled during the previous decade. Fenwick promptly purchased land from the Lenapes of the region—the Cohanseys—with whom he maintained good relations. Deeds of 1675 & 1676 specified that Fenwick would receive territory, “excepted always … the plantations in which [the natives] now inhabit,” in return for cloth, rum, guns, & other items.

Despite these deeds, Salem’s status remained insecure because Fenwick, as a result of financial difficulties & legal challenges, lacked English title, deeds, & the right to govern. Governor Edmund Andros (1637-1714) of New York, who for the Duke of York until 1680, claimed authority over both banks of the Delaware, jailed Fenwick in New York for 2 extended periods, leaving the land claims of the Salem colonists unclear.

The West New Jersey Concessions
...In 1676, the Quaker trustees & Edward Byllynge implemented plans for settling the other ninety percent of West New Jersey. Byllynge probably drafted the innovative West New Jersey Concessions (1676) that described the process for distributing land, granted religious freedom & trial by jury, & set out a plan for mediation of disputes between Lenapes & Europeans.

Native Americans in South New Jersey A map, showing a southern section of the state of New Jersey. Small houses on the map show the locations of various Lenape tribes.  This 1673 map of lower West New Jersey displays the locations of Lenape & other Native American settlements throughout the region. (Library of Congress)

The Swedes, Finns, & Lenapes offered the Burlington colonists assistance despite worry about their increasing numbers. The Swedes & Finns provided shelter soon after the Kent arrived & helped the West Jersey commissioners purchase land from the Lenapes. The winter of 1677-78 came before the new settlers could begin constructing Burlington, so they built wigwams like the Lenapes’ & depended upon the natives for corn, vegetables, venison, fish, & fowl. Unfortunately the Burlington colonists brought smallpox that, like earlier epidemics, killed many Lenapes.

Autonomous Communities
During the proprietary period from 1674 to 1702, the West New Jersey colonists organized themselves much like their Lenape neighbors—in autonomous communities governed by local officials, loosely affiliated with neighboring colonial & native settlements..

Although Quakers, including William Penn, founded both West New Jersey & Pennsylvania, the colonies evolved differently in their initial years. In West New Jersey, the continuing power of the Lenapes, smaller European population, & lack of unified leadership in Burlington created more room for local autonomy & intercultural alliances between natives & colonists than in Pennsylvania, where larger numbers of immigrants & a more hierarchical government held sway...

Dissolution of West New Jersey Colony
The proprietary colony of West New Jersey dissolved in 1702, when the proprietors of both East & West New Jersey surrendered their right of government to the English Crown. ...The governor of New York, Edward Hyde, Lord Cornbury (1661-1723) assumed office as the 1st New Jersey royal governor in 1703.

See:
Dunn, Mary Maples & Richard S. Dunn et al., eds. The Papers of William Penn. Vols. 1 & 2. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981-1982.

Grumet, Robert S. The Munsee Indians: A History. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009.

Lurie, Maxine N. & Richard Veit, eds. New Jersey: A History of the Garden State. New Brunswick, N.J. : Rutgers University Press, 2012.

Offutt, William M., Jr. Of “Good Laws” & “Good Men”: Law & Society in the Delaware Valley, 1680-1710. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1995.

Pomfret, John E. The Province of West New Jersey 1609-1702: A History of the Origins of an American Colony. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1956.

Purvis, Thomas L. Proprietors, Patronage, & Paper Money: Legislative Politics in New Jersey, 1703-1776. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1986.

Reed, H. Clay & George J. Miller, eds. The Burlington Court Book: A Record of Quaker Jurisprudence in West New Jersey 1680-1709. Washington, D.C.: American Historical Association, 1944.

Smith, Samuel. The History of New-Jersey, 2d ed. Trenton, N.J.: William S. Sharp, 1877.

Soderlund, Jean R. Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.

Wacker, Peter O. Land & People: A Cultural Geography of Preindustrial New Jersey: Origins & Settlement Patterns. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1975.

Jean R. Soderlund is a Professor of History Emeritus at Lehigh University. She is author of Lenape Country: Delaware Valley Society Before William Penn (2015) & is currently researching a social history of colonial West Jersey.