CREE

When French traders, seeking furs, and French missionaries, spreading the Catholic faith, first learned of the existence of the Cree, these ALGONQUIANS were widespread. Bands of Cree hunted in territories extending all the way from the Ottawa River in the present-day province of Quebec to the Saskatchewan River of western Canada. The name Cree, pronounced the way it is spelled, is thought to be a shortened form of Kristineaux (or Kiristino), a French derivation of Kenistenoag, their Native name.

Most Cree are classified as SUBARCTIC INDIANS. They made their homes in a part of North America where winters were long and summers were short, and the seasons dictated the rhythm of life. Lakes, rivers, and forests of spruce and fir trees were plentiful. Snowshoes and birch-bark canoes served as the main methods of transportation. The bark of the birch tree was also used to cover dwellings, small cone-shaped tents. Mammals, fowl, fish, and edible wild plants were the main source of food, since farming was so difficult in the cold climate and the rocky topsoil.

Different groups of Cree became known by names based on their surroundings. There were the Swampy Cree (Maskegon) of the wet north country near Hudson Bay, and the Western Wood Cree of the forests north of Lake Winnipeg. Those who headed southward onto the Great Plains, began to hunt buffalo (in addition to moose, caribou, deer, and elk), and began using true tipis of hide like other PLAINS INDIANS rather than the bark-covered tents common to their woodland relatives. They came to be called Plains Cree. Other important Cree groupings were the Tete de Boule Cree (Attikamek)

Cree powderhorn with copper ornamentation and leather pouches, from the fur-trading period

And the Mistassini Cree in what is now Quebec, both of whom can be called the Eastern Wood Cree. With their wide range, the Cree Indians are historically one of the most important tribes of Canada.