The Anishinabe were early and consistent allies of the French. Because they were trusted friends and trading partners, they were among the first Indians to receive French firearms. With these guns, they drove the SIOUX (DAKOTA, LAKOTA, NAKOTA) westward onto the Great Plains, and the SAC, MESKWAKI (fox), and KICKAPOO southward from what today is northern Wisconsin. Some of these engagement were naval battles, with warriors fighting from canoes. The Anishinabe even managed to repel the powerful IROQUOIS (haudenosaunee), invading from the east.
During the late 1600s and early 1700s, various Anishin-abe bands, such as the Missisauga and Salteaux, came to dominate parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, and southern Ontario, the Anishinabe empire stretching from Lake Huron to the Missouri River.
In the mid-1700s, the Anishinabe fought the British in the French and Indian wars (see entries on the ABENAKI and Iroquois) and in Pontiac’s Rebellion (see OTTAWA entry). Then in 1769, the Anishinabe joined forces with the Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac, Meskwaki, and Kickapoo to defeat the ILLINOIS.
In the American Revolution, the Anishinabe became allies of the British against the American rebels. Then
Anishinabe warclub, shaped like rabbit's hind leg
They fought the Americans again in the Indian wars for the Old Northwest, including Little Turtle’s War, Tecumseh’s Rebellion, and in the War of 1812 (see MIAMI and SHAWNEE). In 1815, when the British surrendered the Anishinabe were forced to cede much of their land to the expanding United States.
World History
