ALGONKIN

The application of tribal names can be confusing. In the case of the terms Algonquian, Algonquin, Algonkian, and

Used to discuss one small Canadian tribe, the people who originally held the name. But at other times they are used to denote many different tribes who spoke a common language but who were spread throughout much of North America. One might see the phrase Algonquian proper to distinguish the original tribe from other Algonquian-speaking peoples. This book uses Algonkin for the original tribe and Algonquian for the language family of tribes (see ALGONQUIANS and NORTHEAST INDIANS). Algonkin, pronounced al-GON-kin, possibly means “at the place of spearing fish”). In addition to being the first bearers of the now widespread name, they are important historically as early allies and trading partners of the French.

Samuel de Champlain, a French explorer and fur trader, who came to North America in 1603 and helped establish New France in what is now the eastern part of Canada, had extensive contact with the Algonkin. He was the first European to lead expeditions along the Ottawa River, which now forms part of the border between Quebec and Ontario. The Ottawa River is named after another Indian tribe, the OTTAWA. But the river and some of its northern tributaries flowed through Algonkin territory as well.

Champlain and his men alienated the powerful IRO QUOIS (HAUDENOSAUNEE) nations to the south by attacking some of their people, and the Iroquois became allies of the enemies of the French in North America— first the Dutch, then the English. The Iroquois made raids into the north against the French and their Indian allies and drove the Algonkin and other tribes from their homelands. Some Algonkin joined other Algonquian tribes, such as the Ottawa. Others eventually returned to their original territory, where their descendants live today in various Canadian Indian bands.

In their heyday, the Algonkin lived like other northern Algonquians—practicing little farming and much hunting, fishing, and gathering. They left their villages to track game when necessary for survival. Their houses were usually cone-shaped like tipis rather than dome-shaped like New England wigwams. They also built rectangular houses. In the summer, they traveled in birch-bark canoes; in the winter, they used snowshoes and toboggans.

Algonkin deerskin mittens (modern)

Algonkin religious beliefs resembled those of other Algonquian peoples of the northern forest. For them Manitou, sometimes referred to as the Great Spirit, was the primary force of nature and life, a supernatural power inherent in all living and nonliving things. As such, Manitou had many manifestations. One Algonkin man, for example, claimed that the most important religious possession or totem he had was a hair that he had pulled from the mustache of Manitou. The hair was wrapped in duck down and placed in a leather pouch decorated with porcupine quills; a second and third pouch were used to hold the first pouch. This man claimed that Manitou’s mustache hair had saved him from drowning and from sickness and had led him to moose when he was hunting.

Like Native Americans all over the continent, the Algonkin danced ceremonially. In their Feast of the Dead, they entertained visiting tribes with a dance depicting warfare. In one such dance, a warrior would chase another with a warclub, but would lose the advantage and almost be killed by the enemy. By weaving and bobbing, all in time to the beat of the drum, he would eventually manage to outmaneuver his opponent and win the day.

There are currently nine Algonkin bands with reserve lands in Quebec, and one band in Ontario. The Abitibi, with one band in Ontario and one in Quebec, are considered a subtribe of the Algonkin.