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The 'Potawatomi' (also spelled 'Pottawatomie' or 'Pottawatomi') are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves 'Bodéwadmi', a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied to them by their Anishinaabe cousins. They originally called themselves 'Neshnabé', a cognate of the word ''Anishinaabe''.
The Potawatomi were part of a long term alliance with the Ojibwe and Ottawa, called the Council of Three Fires. In the Council of Three Fires, Potawatomi were considered the "youngest brother."

Contents

History

Bands

Location

Language

External links

Notes

History

The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records which suggest that, in the early 17th century, they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan. During the Beaver Wars, they fled to the area around the Bay of Green Bay to escape attacks by the Iroquois and Neutral Nation.
Potawatomi warriors were an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy and took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War, although their allegiance switched repeatedly between the English and the Americans.
At the time of the War of 1812 a band of Potawatomies were present near Fort Dearborn, in the current location of Chicago. This tribe was agitated by chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon) and a force of about 500 attacked the evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn killing a majority of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force along with many wounded. This attack is referred to as the Fort Dearborn massacre. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Black Partridge), counciled against the attack and later saved some of the civilians that were being ransomed by the Potawatomis.^[1] There was also Potawatomi land in Crown Point, Indiana.
According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indians purchased 1,280 acres of land near Shabbona, Illinois, in rural DeKalb County. The tribal leaders have been silent on what it plans to do with the land, though many residents believe the tribe intends to build a casino on the property.

Bands

There are several active bands of Potawatomi:

★ Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma

★ Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin

★ Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (formerly known as the Gun Lake tribe), based in Dorr, Michigan in Allegan County, Michigan

★ Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan

★ Moose Deer Point First Nation, Ontario, Canada

★ Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, based in Calhoun County, Michigan

★ Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana

★ Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Kansas

★ Stoney Point and Kettle Point bands, Ontario, Canada

★ Walpole Island band; an unceded island between the United States and Canada

Location

The Potawatomi first lived in lower Michigan, then moved to northern Wisconsin and eventually settled into northern Indiana and central Illinois. In the early 1800s, major portions of Potawatomi lands were annexed by the U.S. government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, most of the Potawatomi people were forcibly removed from the tribe's lands. Many perished en route to new lands in the west, following what became known as the "Trail of Death".

Language

Main articles: Potawatomi language

Potawatomi is an Algonquian language spoken by fewer than 100 people in Ontario and the north-central United States. The current speakers are all older people and there is fear that the language may die out in the near future.
Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Allegan, Waukegan, Muskegon, and Skokie.

External links

★ First Nations Compact Histories: Potawatomi History

★ Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation

★ Citizen Potawatomi Nation

★ Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi

★ Forest County Potawatomi

★ Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (Gun Lake)

★ Moose Deer Point First Nation

★ Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians

★ The Potawatomi in historical perspective

★ Treaties with the Potawatomi

★ Potawatomi Author Larry Mitchell

★ Kettle & Stony Point First Nation

Notes

1. The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire (Civilization of the American Indian Series), R. David Edmunds,, , , University of Oklahoma Press, ,