Menominee

History and European Contact

The Menominee (also spelled Menomini) called themselves Mamaceqtwa (“The People”) and were given the [Page 891]name Menominee (meaning “wild-rice gatherers”) by neighboring tribes. The French explorers and missionaries called them Folles Avoines, or “wild-oats people.” The Menominee gathered wild rice as a staple of their diet, which also consisted of fish, game, and cultivated beans, corn, and squash. The oral history and creation story of the tribe originates at the mouth of the present-day Menominee River, and unlike other tribes, the Menominee have no migration story. They are part of the widely diverse Woodland cultural grouping (beginning in 1,000 BC), and although some archaeologists have asserted that they may be descendants of the Mississippian mound-building cultures on account of the abundance of mounds in the area, this conflicts with the tribal history. Tribal history mentions the presence of a separate mound-building people in the area who either migrated elsewhere or were absorbed into the Menominee or other local tribes. The tribe was organized into various bands consisting of the five clans: Eagle, Bear, Moose, Crane, and Wolf.

The Menominee's first European contact was with French explorer Jean Nicolet (1634). During the period of early European contact and colonization, the area was dominated by the French (1630–1760), and, in 1671, the French annexed the Great Lakes region, and all tribes were declared French subjects. The Menominee became very successful in the fur trade; however, contact with French explorers, traders, and missionaries greatly reduced the tribe's population through epidemics of smallpox, cholera, and measles. Their success in the fur trade changed the economic focus of the tribe, and the frequent raids by the Iroquois (1600–1800) created a further reliance on trade with Europeans for weapons and ammunition. Unlike other Great Lakes tribes of similar size who disappeared, the Menominee also survived additional threats from large and powerful tribes, such as the Fox Sauk, the Ojibwas, and the Huron. As colonization progressed, the tribe faced new threats to its existence from the newly formed United States.

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