The Algonkian People of the Eastern Woodlands

By: Ligia and Natasha

The Algonkians lived below the Hudson’s Bay and between the Atlantic Ocean and Rocky Mountains.

Atlantic Ocean

Hudson’s Bay The terms Algonquin and

Algonkian are both correct . « Algonquin » , often refers to the language of the Algonkians.

By: Ligia Salajan

The Dream Catcher

• The Algonquin Tribes used dream catchers made from cradleboards to protect their children from bad dreams.

Appearance’s • The Algonquin clothing consisted of breech

clothing, leggings, hunting shirts and sleeves with soft soled moccasins.

• The Algonquin also wore animal skins such as deer hides. There robes made of different animal furs such as beaver, minx and bear.

• When going to war or joining in celebrations, many warriors greased their hair and often painted their bodies with barriers, root juices, charcoal and soot.

• Many men also tattooed their bodies with figures and designs

Housing • Algonquin tribes were farmers and hunters, so

living in the Northern climates was hard for them to stay in one place. They have been classifies as semi-nomadic, due to moving their encampments (homes) in search for better agriculture land for farming an hunting

• Algonquin's lived in wigwams made from branches and bark off of the trees, or lived in branch huts while using rivers, forest and lakes for protection.

Lifestyle • Algonquian tribes farmed, but where mainly

hunters. They used fish to fertilize their corn fields and tapped trees for maple syrup. For those Algonquin tribes that lived on the coast, their main vegetation was fish and things from the sea.

• The men hunted moose, caribou, beavers, otters, black bears and deer.

• Women gathered nuts, greens and berries and also grew corn, beans and squash. One of the main foods they ate and farmed was wild rice around the marshlands around the great lakes.

Relationship to Other TribesTrade

Trade with other tribes•Many Algonkians went to trade with tribes that gathered on the North or ‘icy sea’ •others remained to fish in the springtime, dried the fish and utilized them as currency to purchase corn•they often traded with the Huron, the Ojibwe and the Ottawa tribes— when not at war with the Iroquois, Algonkians traded beaver belts and furs in exchange for Iroquois corn and tobacco•The items that the Algonkians most desired were cornand maple syrup

The Algonkians

Trade with European Settlers•The most popular items of trade were furs and wampum (a valuable bead made of purple and white shells which they traded with the Europeans for guns) • the Algonkians maintained friendly ties with the European settlers and traded often•They travelled great distances to trade effectively

The Algonkians

Witchcraft Dreamcatchers

Wampum

The Algonkians were very fearful of witchcraft and opted to keep their names hidden from strangers and outsiders as a precaution

The Wampum was a very important item of trade for the Algonkians. Made of purple and white shells, the wampum bead was traded or made into belts. Each bead sown onto the belts harboured special meanings and chiefs used these as an aid in remembering speeches

As was very common amongst Aboriginal tribes, the Algonkians manifested their supersitions by hanging dream catchers

Trade

WarsThe Algonkians

•The Algonkians were one of the first tribes to ally with the French and thus participated in many French-lead battles•The Algonkians were adept warriors who used transportation and woodland skills to dominate the Iroquois tribe•The Algonkians tended to avoid the St. Lawrence River due to the threat of Mohawk war parties

1. The Algonkians and the French fought versus the Dutch, the English, and the Iroquois2. The Algonkians also formed an alliance with the Huron tribe and together fought wars

against the Mohawks, the Iroquois, the Seneca, the Ojibwe, Mahicans and the Nipissing Indians throughout the 1600’s

What main factor drove the Algokians into constant war with other tribes?

They fought over who would obtain trading rights with the French and the Dutch

Stories from Oral TraditionThe Algonkians

Storytelling was and and continues to be an important facet of Algonkian culture

Algonkian Creation Story: - the animals of the mastered the land in peace for a long while - a disagreement suddenly ruptured the animals’ peace and insinuated fighting - this angered the Creator who resolved to start a flood and begin a new world - to ensure survival, one animal was required to dive into the depths of the sea and retrieve a handful of dirt - the loon, the dove, the duck, and the otter dove and returned emptyhanded -the muskrat then timidly volunteered and dove for a long period. He was nearly dead upon return but he accomplished his mission -he spread the dirt over the turtle’s back and thus created the earth with its trees and grasses living beings that roamed the turtle’s shell

The Algonkian Creation tale is similar to other native aboriginal tales which involve a woman falling from the sky and into sea where a group sea animals strive to accomodate her need for solid ground.

Algon and the Sky Girl -an earthly man—Algon— fell in love with a woman in the sky, a star woman - he entreated her to come and stay on earth with him - they had a son together and in time she grew sad and yearned for her home in the sky - Algon accompanied her to her home in the sky and took gifts for his father in law - The father in law selected a falcon feather from the gifts and cast a spell to transform Algon and his wife into majestic falcons - Algon and his wife could freely travel from earth as falcons thereby attaining mutual contentment -Their descendants—the falcons—still fly high over forests and dip low over prairies as Algon and his wife did throughout their lives

The Algonkians

The tale of Algon and the Sky Girl shows that human and animal, earth and sky, and rocks and trees are all connected. It reinforces the belief that the spirits of the dead live on in nature.

Spirituality and Religious Traditions

Algonkian Spirituality

Relating to other tribes

•Belief in an all-powerful creator and lesser spirits (good and evil) all around• the spirits of the dead could return to haunt the living or as spiritual guides•The shamans (medicine men) communicated with spirits and healed the ill and the sick•The Algonkians posessed no concept of hell/eternal punishment•Algonkian tribes had leaders, called Sachems who were born into their position. The ‘sagamores’ were the sachem’s advisors •As war infused into the Algonkian way of life, traditions reflected this through greasing of the hair and painted bodies (soot, charcoal, berries)•Soon after European contact was established trade and war tensions arose which lead to innovative traditions.The Algonkians now donned war paint and tribal tattoos

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•Belief in an all-powerfull Creator•A shared belief in life after death: dead men pursued the spirits of dead animals•The Algonkians had a patrilineal system which passed property and hunting grounds from father to son while the Iroquois had a matrilineal system•Had powwows to discuss visions, the future, settlements, and alliances•Respect for the circle of life by harvesting only necessary items, and rotating foresting grounds•The youth participated in vision quests•The Potlatch: gift giving and an emphasis on wealth and power; maintained social order.•The summer Sundace ritual brought tribes together for spiritual enlightment and self-torture

The Algonkians

The Algonkians

A vision quest was a time of solitude, fasting, and spiritual evolution for the Native adolescent.

The shaman was a revered member of his tribe who took on the role of medicine man, dream interpreter, and spiritual guide.

Historical Events Associated with the Algonkians

Early history states that the Algonkians migrated from the Atlantic coast 2000 years ago•1600`s— The Algonkians were one of the first tribes encountered by the explorer Samuel de Champlain. Champlain displayed his support for the Algonkians by forging an alliance between themselves and the French and providing French aid for fighting off the Algonkian enemies—the Mohawks•Champlain desired to form trading bonds with the Algonkians and thus eliminate other European competition•1760s—as members of the Seven Nations of Canada (Seven Fires), the Algonkians were dedicated French allies up until the French and Indian War (1755-1763). After the French and Indian war, the Algonkians signed a treaty to remain neutral in future wars between the British and the French•1775—The Algonkians fought alongside the British during the American Revolution which lasted from 1775 to 1783•Proclamation of 1763 •Quebec Act of 1774•When the Americans won the revolution, British loyalists began settling in Upper Canada and ignored the Algonkian rights to land in the lower Ottawa valley and in Eastern Ontario•1812— Nonetheless, the Algonkians fought alongside the British during the war of 1812 and then continued to lose land.

Both were created to protect Algonkian land from settlement

The Algonkians

Unique Items of Algonkian Heritage The Algonkians

•Algonquin Park: The Park was established in 1893 and is located between Georgian Bay and Ottawa River in central Ontario which was part of the Algonkian hunting and fishing area.•Algonquin College: established in 1965 and located in Ottawa. Named after the Algonkians who were the original inhabitants of the area•Algonkian Rock Art: it was generally naturalistic but not very lifelike

•Algonkian Pictographs: pictographs were symbolic words or phrases shown in picture form. They showed everyday animals like caribou, elk, and moose, later evolved into human forms wearing ceremonial robes and riding canoes, and subsequent to European contact, the pictographs even showed fragments of European culture such as rifles, boats, and forts

The Algonkian Thunderer, ’animiki as it

appeared in a dream. The Algonkian Thunderer, ’animiki’ in pictographic form.

The Algonkians

Where do the present-day Algonkians preside and what is their population?At first contact with the French, the Algonkians had a population of 6000. The current Algonkian population is 8000. They are divided into ten First Nations, 9 of which reside in Quebec and 1 in Ontario

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