Thank you Kaida!
Society-OJIBWA
The Ojibwa are an American Indian ethnolinguistic group centered about
the upper Great Lakes (i.e., Lakes Superior and Huron) in both Canada
and the United States. They are distributed over nearly the entire
region between the lower peninsula of Michigan and adjacent parts
of Ontario to the east, and the plains of eastern Saskatchewan to
the west. Their northernmost extension runs north of Lake Winnipeg
to approximately 54 degrees north latitude, and they extend southward
into Minnesota and Wisconsin. They are believed to have occupied this
broad area through a series of migrations and conquests, beginning
near the end of the seventeenth century and originating from a rather
small region adjacent to northern Lake Huron and eastern Lake Superior,
probably centered at Sault Ste. Marie.
The earliest recorded White contacts with the Ojibwa date from around
1640, and for most of their known history, the Ojibwa have been one
of the largest Indian groups in North America. Kinietz (1947: 14)
states that in the early days of the English regime (probably around
the 1770s) their population was estimated as approximately 25,000-30,000.
Barrett (1911: 254) placed their population at about 30,000 in 1910,
while the 1930 U. S. census listed over 21,500 Ojibwa in the U. S.
alone (Kinietz 1947: 14). More recently, Murdock and O'Leary (1975:
vol. 2, p. 168) note that the Canadian Ojibwa numbered 43,948 in 1967,
while the U. S. Ojibwa numbered 45,986 in 1970--for a total population
of about 89,900.
The Ojibwa speak a Central Algonkian language and are most closely
related to the Ottawa and Potawatomi.
Given their wide dispersal and large numbers, it is not surprising
that the Ojibwa manifest some degree of regional differentiation.
The following table presents a classification of the Ojibwa into the
principal cultural-regional divisions that have been suggested by
various authorities:
Principal Ojibwa Cultural-Regional Divisions
I. Woodlands Ojibwa or Ojibwa proper
A. Northern Ojibwa or Saulteaux
1. Northern Saulteaux
2. Southern Saulteaux
B. Southern Ojibwa or Chippewa
l. Southwestern Chippewa
2. Southeastern Chippewa
II. Plains Ojibwa or Bungi
The major cultural distinction is between the Woodlands and Plains
Ojibwa. The Plains Ojibwa form a rather distinct ethnic group in language,
social organization, art, ceremonial, and costume. They are derived
from small groups of Ojibwa who migrated into the Plains, beginning
near the end of the eighteenth century, and, under Northern Plains
influence, underwent extensive cultural change, including the adoption
of a bison-hunting economy. They occupy parts of northern North Dakota
and Montana and are also found just across the Canadian border in
Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
The Woodlands Ojibwa represent the classic Ojibwa culture type, which
was widely popularized by writers on American Indians, such as Henry
M. Schoolcraft (1951-57). But the Ojibwa attained their greatest popularity
through the use of Schoolcraft's material by Longfellow in his famous
poem of Hiawatha, for while the name Hiawatha is drawn from Iroquois
sources, the stories are nearly all Ojibwa.
According to Dunning (1959: 5), the Northern and Southern Ojibwa may
be differentiated on the grounds of ecology and social structure,
although both were characterized by exogamous patrilineal sibs and
cross-cousin marriage. The Northern Ojibwa had small, isolated bands,
a family hunting territory system, and a hunting-fishing-trapping
economy. The Southern Ojibwa tended toward larger, more complex, and
sedentary communities with more diversified economy.
The area of the Northern Ojibwa extends in the northeast to the headwaters
of the river systems flowing into the western side of James Bay, while
in the west it is bounded roughly by Lake Winnipeg and its river systems.
The southern boundary is the northern shore of Lake Superior and a
line running somewhat north of but parallel to the Minnesota-Ontario
border.
Both Skinner (1912: 117) and Kinietz (1947: 13) distinguish, within
the Northern Ojibwa, between the Northern and Southern Saulteaux.
No precise boundary is given, but the Northern Saulteaux consist of
those bands located more toward Lake Winnipeg, while the Southern
Saulteaux consist of those bands located more toward Lake Superior.
Within the Southern Ojibwa, the distinction between the Southwestern
and Southeastern Chippewa is a much clearer one, on both geographical
and cultural grounds. The Southwestern Chippewa occupy the area south
of Lake Superior running from Upper Michigan, through northern Wisconsin
and Minnesota, and along the southern border of Ontario approximately
as far west as Lake of the Woods. Their economy included very little
farming, but the harvesting of wild rice and maple sugar was important.
Those of interior Wisconsin and Minnesota were chiefly hunters and
trappers, with fishing secondary, while among the more northern groups
fishing was the major subsistence activity.
The area of the Southeastern Chippewa includes Lower Michigan, Lake
Huron, and a sector of Ontario to the north of Lake Huron. Their subsistence
economy was based on farming, hunting, fishing, and the harvesting
of maple sugar. They had large, permanent summer villages along the
northern shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan, but dispersed into extended
family hunting bands during the winter.
Culture summary by Robert O. Lagace
http://www.ojibwa.com/