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Montagnais-Naskapi |
Algonquin |
Ojibwa
The Ojibwa were
located on the North shore of Lakes Superior and Huron.
They had originally lived further to the North near
Hudson Bay but around 1400 a mini Ice age settled in
through North America. This cold spell encouraged the
Ojibwa to migrate south. A band of the Ojibwa, the
Ottawa settled on Islands in Lake Huron the main one of
which was Manitoulin Island. When the Ottawa first came
into contact with the French explorers and missionaries
they numbered about 8,000.
They continued to grow
and expand throughout the western Great Lakes and after
the elimination of the Huron by the Iroquois, the Ojibwa
pushed the Iroquois out of Ontario. They eventually
forced the Sioux from Minnesota and established
themselves as one of the most powerful Indian nations in
North America.
They used the birch
bark canoe for transportation ad the Great Lakes as
their transportation routes. They became closely
integrated with the Couriers de Bois or French runners
of the woods in opening up the fur trade
throughout much of Ontario and Manitoba.
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