Algonquin people French contact
When did the French contact the Algonquins?
When did the French contact the Algonquins?
The Algonquin first met Europeans when Samuel de Champlain came upon a party led by the Kitcisipirini Chief Tessouat at Tadoussac, in eastern present-day Quebec, in the summer of 1603. They were celebrating a recent victory over the Iroquois, with the allied Montagnais and Etechemins (Malecite). Champlain did not understand that the Algonquins were socially united by a strong totem/clan system rather than the European-styled political concept of nationhood. The several Algonquin bands each had its own chief. Within each band, the chief depended on political approval from each of the band's clan leaders. Champlain needed to cultivate relationships with numerous chiefs and clan leaders. From 1603, some of the Algonquin allied with the French under Champlain. This alliance proved useful to the Algonquin, who previously had little to no access to European firearms.  Champlain made his first exploration of the Ottawa River during May 1613 and reached the fortified Kitcisipirini village at Morrison Island. Unlike the other Algonquin communities, the Kitcisipiriniwak did not change location with the seasons. They had chosen a strategic point astride the trade route between the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River. They prospered through the collection of beaver pelts from native traders passing through their territory. They also were proud of their corn fields.  At first, the French used the term "Algonquin" only for a second group, the Wawackeciriniwak. However, by 1615, they applied the name to all of the Algonquin bands living along the Ottawa River. Because of keen interest by tribes to gain control of the lower Ottawa River, the Kitcisipiriniwak and the Wawackeciriniwak came under fierce opposition. These two large groups allied together, under the leadership of Sachem Charles Parcharini, to maintain the Omamiwinini identity and territory. CANNOTANSWER
in the summer of 1603.
Algonquin people are an Indigenous people of Eastern Canada. They speak the Algonquin language, a divergent dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwe (including Oji-Cree), and Nipissing, with whom they form the larger Anicinàpe (Anishinaabeg). The Algonquin people call themselves Omàmiwinini (plural: Omàmiwininiwak) or the more generalised name of Anicinàpe.

Though known by several names in the past, such as Algoumequin (at the time of Samuel de Champlain), the most common term "Algonquin" has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word  ():  "they are our relatives/allies". The much larger heterogeneous group of Algonquian-speaking peoples, who, according to Brian Conwell, stretch from Virginia to the Rocky Mountains and north to Hudson Bay, was named after the tribe.

Most Algonquins live in Quebec. The nine Algonquin bands in that province and one in Ontario have a combined population of about 11,000. The Algonquin are original natives of southern Quebec and eastern Ontario in Canada. Today they live in nine communities in Quebec and one in Ontario.

Many Algonquins still speak the Algonquin language, called generally  or specifically . The language is considered one of several divergent dialects of the Anishinaabe languages. Among younger speakers, the Algonquin language has experienced strong word borrowings from the Cree language.
Traditionally, the Algonquins lived in either birch bark or  wooden mìkiwàms.  Today Algonquins live in housings like those of the general public.

Traditionally, the Algonquins were practitioners of Midewiwin (the right path). They  believed they were surrounded by many manitòk or spirits in the natural world. French missionaries converted many Algonquins to Catholicism in the 17th and 18th centuries. Today, many of the people practice traditional Midewiwin or a syncretic merging of Christianity and Midewiwin.

In the earliest oral history, the Algonquins say they migrated from the Atlantic coast.  Together with other Anicinàpek, they arrived at the "First Stopping Place" near Montreal.  While the other Anicinàpe peoples continued their journey up the St. Lawrence River, the Algonquins settled along the Kitcisìpi (Ottawa River), a long-important highway for commerce, cultural exchange and transportation.  Algonquin identity, though, was not fully realized until after the dividing of the Anicinàpek at the "Third Stopping Place".  Scholars have used the oral histories, archeology, and linguistics to estimate this took place about 2000 years ago, near present-day Detroit.

After contact with the Europeans, especially the French and Dutch, the Algonquin nations became active in the fur trade.  This led them to fight against the powerful Iroquois, whose confederacy was based in present-day New York.  In 1570, the Algonquins formed an alliance with the Montagnais to the east, whose territory extended to the ocean.

French contact

  The Algonquin first met Europeans when Samuel de Champlain came upon a party led by the  Chief Tessouat at Tadoussac, in eastern present-day Quebec, in the summer of 1603.  They were celebrating a recent victory over the Iroquois, with the allied Montagnais and Etchemins (Malecite).  Champlain did not understand that the Algonquins were socially united by a strong totem/clan system rather than the European-styled political concept of nationhood.  The several Algonquin bands each had its own chief.  Within each band, the chief depended on political approval from each of the band's clan leaders.  Champlain needed to cultivate relationships with numerous chiefs and clan leaders.  From 1603, some of the Algonquin allied with the French under Champlain. This alliance proved useful to the Algonquin, who previously had little to no access to European firearms.

Champlain made his first exploration of the Ottawa River during May 1613 and reached the fortified  village at Morrison Island. Unlike the other Algonquin communities, the  did not change location with the seasons. They had chosen a strategic point astride the trade route between the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River.  They prospered through the collection of beaver pelts from native traders passing through their territory.  They also were proud of their corn fields.

At first, the French used the term "Algonquin" only for a second group, the Wàwàckeciriniwak.  However, by 1615, they applied the name to all of the Algonquin bands living along the Ottawa River.  Because of keen interest by tribes to gain control of the lower Ottawa River, the  and the  came under fierce opposition.  These two large groups allied together, under the leadership of Sachem (Carolus) Charles Pachirini, to maintain the  identity and territory.

French-Indian War/Seven Years' War

The Iroquois Confederacy drove the Algonquins from their lands.  They were aided by having been traded arms by the Dutch, and later by the English.  The Iroquois and the English defeated the French and Algonquins.

In 1623, after Sir David Kirke's occupation of New France demonstrated French colonial vulnerability, the French began to trade muskets to the Algonquins and their allies.  French Jesuits began to seek Algonquin conversions to Roman Catholicism.

Through all of these years, the Iroquois never attacked the  fortress.  But, in 1642, they made a surprise winter raid, attacking the Algonquin while most of the warriors were absent, and causing severe casualties.  On March 6, 1647 (Ash Wednesday), a large Mohawk war party attacked the  living near Trois-Rivières and almost exterminated them.  The  were still at Morrison Island in 1650 and inspired respect with their 400 warriors.  When the French retreated from the Huron country that year, Tessouat is reported to have had the superior of the Jesuit mission suspended by his armpits because he refused to offer him the customary presents for being allowed to travel through Algonquin territory.

Some joined the mission at Sillery, where they were mostly destroyed by an infectious disease epidemic by 1676.  Encouraged by the French, others remained at Trois-Rivières.  Their  settlement at nearby Pointe-du-Lac continued until about 1830.  That year the last 14 families, numbering about 50, moved to Kanesatake near Oka. (The families who stayed in Trois Rivieres can be found in the Algonquin census of Trois Rivieres in the mid-19th century).

The Sulpician Mission of the Mountain was founded at Montreal in 1677, and some Algonquins settled there together with Iroquois converts.  The mostly Mohawk community became known as Kahnawake.  But many Algonquin maintained their attachment to the traditional territory and fur trading.  Those who agreed to move to established reserves or joined other historical bands were federally "recognized".  Many others who did not re-locate were later called "stragglers" in the Ottawa and Pontiac counties.

Settlement in Quebec

Starting in 1721, many Christian Algonquins began to settle for the summer at Kahnesatake, near Oka.  The Mohawk Nation was then considered one of the Seven Nations of Canada.  Algonquin warriors continued to fight in alliance with France until the British conquest of Quebec in 1760, during the Seven Years' War.  After the British took over colonial rule of Canada, their officials sought to make allies of the First Nations.  Fighting on behalf of the British Crown, the Algonquins took part in the Barry St Leger campaign during the American Revolutionary War.

Loyalist settlers began encroaching on Algonquin lands shortly after the Revolution. Later in the 19th century, the lumber industry began to move up the Ottawa valley, and a lot of Algonquins were relegated to a string of small reserves.

Economy

Historical Algonquin society was largely hunting and fishing-based. Being primarily a hunting nation, the people emphasized mobility.  They used materials that were light  and easy to transport. Canoes were made of birch bark, sewed with spruce roots and rendered waterproof by the application of heated spruce resin and bear grease.  During winter, toboggans were used to transport material, and people used snowshoes to get around.  The women used  (cradleboards) to carry their babies.  It was built with wood and covered with an envelope made of leather or material. The baby was standing up with his feet resting on a small board. The mother would then put the tikinàgan on her back. This allowed the infant to look around and observe his surroundings.  The child was kept close to the mother but also had much stimulation.

Algonquian-speaking people also practiced agriculture, particularly south of the Great Lakes, where the climate allows for a longer growing season.  Notable indigenous crops historically farmed by Algonquins are the sunflower and tobacco. Around 800CE, Eastern Algonquians adopted maize agriculture from their neighbors in the interior.  Even among groups who mainly hunted, agricultural products were an important source of food.  They obtained what was needed by trading with or raiding societies that practiced more agriculture. Eastern Algonquians created pots that could withstand not only thermal stress but the mechanical stress of rough use.

Archaeological sites on Morrison Island near Pembroke, within the territory of the later , reveal a 1,000-year-old culture that manufactured copper tools and weapons.  Copper ore was extracted north of Lake Superior and distributed down to present-day northern New York. Local pottery artifacts from this period show widespread similarities that indicate the continuing use of the river for cultural exchange throughout the Canadian Shield and beyond.

Some centuries later, the Algonquin tribe moved in and inhabited the islands and shores along the Ottawa.  By the 17th century the first Europeans found them well established as a hunter-gatherer society in control of the river. The  showed entrepreneurial spirit. On Morrison Island, at the location where 5,000-year-old copper artifacts were discovered, the  band levied a toll on canoe flotillas descending the river.

Ethnobotany
The Algonquin of Quebec gather the berries of Ribes glandulosum and Viburnum nudum var. cassinoides as food, and eat and sell the fruit of Vaccinium myrtilloides.
They take an infusion of Epigaea repens leaves for kidney disorders and apply a poultice of the gum or needles of Abies balsamea to open sores, insect bites, boils and infections. The needles are a sudatory for women after childbirth and are infused for a laxative tea, while the roots treat heart disease.

Modern events

In recent years, tensions with the lumber industry have flared up again among Algonquin communities, in response to the practice of clear-cutting.

In Ontario, an Algonquin land claim has been ongoing since 1983, encompassing much of the southeastern part of the province, stretching from near North Bay to near Hawkesbury and including Ottawa, Pembroke, and most of Algonquin Provincial Park. The Algonquins never relinquished title to this area. An agreement-in-principle between the Algonquins of Ontario, the Government of Canada and the Government of Ontario was reached in 2015.

In 2000, Algonquins from Timiskaming First Nation played a significant part in the local popular opposition to the plan to convert Adams Mine into a garbage dump.

Communities
At the time of their first meeting with the French in 1603, the various Algonquin bands probably had a combined population somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000. The British estimate in 1768 was 1,500.  As of 2000, there are close to 8,000 Algonquins in Canada, organized into ten separate First Nations: nine in Quebec and one in Ontario.

Historic
Algonquian Nations documented as early as 1630:

Quebec
Kichesipirini ("people of the great river") — They were the largest and most powerful group of Algonquins.  Known variously as: Kitcisìpirini, Kitcisìpiriniwak, , Big River People, ,  (Wyandot language), Island Algonquian, Island Indians, Island Nation, People from the Island, Kichesippiriniwek, , Nation of the Isle, and .  Their main village was on Morrison Island.
Kinounchepirini ("people of the Pickerel-waters") — Also known as Keinouche, Kinouchebiiriniwek, Kinònjepìriniwak, Kinonche, Pickerel, Pike and Quenongebin.  Sometimes they were listed as an Algonquian band, but after 1650 they were associated with the Ottawa and were originally found along the lower Ottawa River below Allumette Island.
"Otaguottaouemin" — Also known as Kotakoutouemi or Outaoukotwemiwek. They were located along the Upper Ottawa River above Allumette Island.
Sàgaiganininiwak ("people of the lake") — Also known as Saghiganirini.
"Saginitaouigama" — Also known as Sagachiganiriniwek.
Weskarini ("people of the deer[-clan]") — Also known as the Wàwàckeciriniwak, , Little Nation, Ouaouechkairini, Ouassouarini, Ouescharini,  (Wyandot language), or Petite Nation.  Their traditional home land is located on the north side of the Ottawa River along the Lievre River and the Rouge River in Quebec.

Ontario
"Iroquet" — They were known as Hiroquet, Hirocay, Iroquay, Yroquetto, and to the Huron as the  or ; they lived along Ontario's South Nation River.
Matàwackariniwak "people of the bulrushed-shore" — Also known as Madawaska, Madwaska, Matouchkarine, Matouashita, Mataouchkarini, Matouechkariniwek and Matouescarini; the Madawaska River in the Upper Ottawa Valley is named after this band.
"Nibachis" — Located at Muskrat Lake near present-day Cobden, Ontario.

Contemporary
Status nations in Quebec
 Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, Kitigan Zibi near Maniwaki (population 3,237)
 Timiskaming First Nation, Notre-Dame-du-Nord, Quebec (population 2,129)
 Nation Anishinabe du Lac Simon, Lac-Simon, Quebec (population 2,149)
 Conseil de la Première Nation Abitibiwinn, Pikogan, Quebec (population 1,059)
 Eagle Village First Nation, Témiscaming, Quebec (population 991)
 Long Point First Nation, Winneway River, Quebec (population 866)
 Algonquins of Barrière Lake, Lac Rapide (population 791)
 Communauté anicinape de Kitcisakik, Val-d'Or, Quebec (population 494)
 Wolf Lake First Nation, Témiscaming, Quebec (population 232) — formed from three historical bands:
 Dumoine Lake Band of Algonquin, (historical)
 Grassy Lake Band of Algonquin, (historical)
 Lac des Quinze Band of Algonquin, (historical)
Status nations in Ontario
 Matachewan First Nation, Matachewan, Ontario (population 787) — formed in part by Algonquins
 Temagami First Nation, Temagami, Ontario (population 841) — formed in part by Algonquins
 Wahgoshig First Nation, Black River-Matheson, Ontario (population 332) — formed in part by Algonquins
 Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, Golden Lake, Ontario (population 2,635)

See also

 Algonquian Bible
 Algonquin mythology
 Algonquin Round Table
 Great Trail
 Kingdom of Saguenay

References

Further reading

 Daniel Clément, The Algonquins. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1996.
 Yvon H. Couture, Les Algonquins. Val d'Or, Quebec: Éditions Hyperborée, 1983.
 Robert Michael Morrissey, Empire by Collaboration: Indians, Colonists, and Governments in Colonial Illinois Country. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2015.
 Evan T. Pritchard, No Word for Time: The Way of the Algonquin People. Tulsa, OK: Council Oak Books, 1997.
 Richard White, The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

External links
 Algonquin Nation
 Ardoch Algonguin First Nation's website
  Ottawa Algonquin First Nation's website 
 The Bonnechere Algonquin Community's website
 Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation
 Tanakiwin - Algonquin Nation in present-day Ontario, Canada
 History of the Algonkin
 Algonquin Language sample
 Watch the documentary Ojigkwanong - Encounter with an Algonquin Sage

 
 
Anishinaabe groups
Algonquian peoples
First Nations in Ontario
First Nations in Quebec
Algonquian ethnonyms
The 159th (1st Algonquins) Battalion, CEF was a unit in the Canadian Expeditionary Force during the First World War.  Based in Haileybury, Ontario, the unit began recruiting in late 1915 in the districts of Nipissing and Sudbury.  After sailing to England in November 1916, the battalion was absorbed into the 8th Reserve Battalion on January 20, 1917.  The 159th (1st Algonquins) Battalion, CEF had one Officer Commanding: Lieut-Col. E. F. Armstrongs.

The battalion is perpetuated by The Algonquin Regiment.

References

Battalions of the Canadian Expeditionary Force
Temiskaming Shores This is a list of various names the Algonquins have been recorded.

Endonyms

Anishinaabe(g)
The most general name for the Algonquins is Anishinaabe.  Though several definitions are given for this name, the most common one is "spontaneous men", referring to their creation as being ex nihlo, thus being the "Original men." When syncoped, the name appears as "Nishnaabe".
 Anicinàpe(k). — Algonquin roman orthography.
 Anishinaabe(g). — Fiero "double vowel" roman orthography.

Odishkwaagamii(g)
Among the Anishinaabe peoples, the Nipissings and the Algonquins are collectively called Odishkwaagamii(g) (syncoped as Dishkwaagmii(g)), meaning "[those] at the end of the lakewater," but Jean Cuoq translates the name as "[those] at the last water," from ishkwaa ("end") and gami ("lakewater"). Chamberlain prefers "[people] on the otherside of the lake" though Chamberlin's translation would be for the Odagaamii(g) — the Fox. Among the Nipissings, though, they call themselves Odishkwaagamii(g) and call the Algonquins Omaamiwinini(wag) — the "downstream man (men)".
 Odishkwaagamii(g). — Fiero "double vowel" roman orthography.
 Otickwàgamì(k). — Algonquin roman orthography.

Omaamiwinini(wag)
Omaamiwinini(wag) — the "downstream man (men)" — is a name generally used by the Nipissings and some Algonquins to describe themselves.
 Omàmiwinini(wak). — Algonquin roman orthography.
 Omaamiwinini(wag). — Fiero "double vowel" roman orthography.

Exonyms

Algonquin(s)
The term "Algonquin" has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word elakómkwik (), "they are our relatives/allies".
 Alagonkins. — Croghan (1765) in Monthly American Journal of Geology, 272, 1831.
 Algokin. — McKenzie quoted by Tanner, Narratives, 332, 1830.
 Algomeequin. — Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, I, 306, 1851.
 Algomequins. — Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, V, 38, 1855
 Algommequin. — Champlain (1632), Œuvres, V, pt. 2, 193, 1870.
 Algomquins. — Sagard (1636), Canada, I, 247, 1866.
 Algoncains. — Hennepin, New Discoveries, 95, 1698.
 Algongins. — Tracy (1667) in New York Documents of Colonial History, III, 153, 1853.
 Algonguin. — Morse, North America, 238, 1778.
 Algonic Indians. — Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, I, 38, 1851.
 Algonkins. — Hennepin (1683) in Harris, Voyage and Travel, II, 916, 1705.
 Algonméquin. — Martin in Bressani, Relations Abrégée, 319, 1653.
 Algonovins. — Alcedo, Dictionary of Geography, V, 120, 1789.
 Algonquains. — Jesuit Relations: 1653, 3, 1858.
 Algonquens. — Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, II, 358, 1852.
 Algonquin. — Jesuit Relations: 1632, 14, 1858.
 Algoomenquini. — Keane in Stanford, Compendium, 500, 1878.
 Algoquins. — Lewis and Clark, Travels, I, map, 1817.
 Algoquois. — Audouard, Far West, 207, 1869.
 Algouinquins. — Gorges (1658) in Maine Historical Society Collections, II, 67, 1847.
 Algoumekins. — Gallatin in Transactions and Collections of the American Antiquarian Society, II, 24, 1836.
 Algoumequini. — De Laet (1633) quoted by Vater, Mithridates, pt. 3, sec. 3, 404, 1816.
 Algoumequins. — Champlain (1603), Œuvres, II, 8, 1870.
 Algumenquini. — Kingsley, Standard National History, pt. 6, 147, 1883.
 Alinconguins. — Nicolls (1666) in New York Documents of Colonial History, II, 147, 1853.
 Alkonkins. — Hutchins (1778) quoted by Jefferson, Notes, 141, 1825.
 Alquequin. — Lloyd in Journal of Anthropological Institute of Great Britain, IV, 44, 1875.
 Altenkins. — Clinton (1745) in New York Documents of Colonial History, VI, 281, 1855 (misprint).
 Attenkins. — Clinton (1745) in New York Documents of Colonial History, VI, 276, 1855.

Akwanake
The general name for any unspecified non-Iroquoian groups, including the Algonquins, were called "Akwanake"—"Strangers"—by the Iroquoian peoples.
 Akwanake. — Brebœuf quoted by Schoolcraft, Indian Tribes, IV, 207, 1854.

Other
 Abnaki. — A variation of Waabanakii(g) — Easterner(s).

See also
 Nipissing ethnonyms
 Ojibwa ethnonyms
 Potawatomi ethnonyms

Notes

References
 J. Mooney and C. Thomas. "Algonkin" in Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico'', edited by Frederick Webb Hodge (Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology Bulletin 30. GPO: 1910.)

 
Anishinaabe culture