|
Kutchin |
Chipewyan |
Beaver |
Stoney | Blackfoot |
Blood |
Assiniboine |
Sioux |
Sarcee
The Chippewa were perhaps one of the
largest tribes north of Mexico and inhabitated and areas
that extended from the shore of Lakes Huron and Superior
into Manitoba, Minnesota and North Dakota. They were a
part of the Algonquin group but did not play a prominent
role in native, white history due to the good relations
and almost complete lack of negative incidents that they
enjoyed with the whites.The
existence of the Chippewa was recorded by the
Jesuit who in 1640 observed that they lived in the area
of the Sault and at war with a tribe from the west -
probably the Sioux. The Chippawa were closely related to
the Cree and Maskegon and could only be separated by
someone very familiar with their different language
dialects.
Thy hunted and trapped for food and
clothing but also grew some maize and collected wild
rice for nourishment. Their wars with the Sioux and the
Fox allowed them to spread from the west of Lake
Superior to the plains in the Dakotas and Manitoba by
1763.
They depended upon the canoe for
transportation which was required for travel through the
land of 100,000 lakes. They built wigwams from birch
bark and grass mats. Poles were planted in the ground
and bent over to form a dome which could the e covered
by the birch bark and sealed with tree sap. They
believed in and practiced polygamy and were firm
believers that the spirits stayed with the bodies and
visited the sites of the dead. The buried their dead
facing west and would sometimes cover their grave with
boards or bark. In the 1700 and 1800's their population
varied between 25,000 and 40,000, proving themselves to
a durable nation. |
