Algonquian-Speaking Tribes

The Algonquian language tribes have commonly been divided into three separate categories: Eastern, Central, and Plains. There are several reasons for this distinction. Initially, it is believed that all Algonquian-speaking people resided in the Northeastern Woodlands areas of the United States and the Southeastern Woodlands of Canada. However, different groups migrated westward along the Great Lakes in separate waves, with the farthest groups settling in the plains of Montana.

The first group to leave the original Algonquian region was the Blackfoot tribal group, which was presumed to have left the region around 1200 c.e. Following the Blackfoot were most likely the Atsina and Arapaho tribes, the former having broken away from the Arapaho in the 1700s when both tribes were still residing in the easternmost Plains regions of the Dakotas and Minnesota. They were followed by the Cheyenne, who were presumed to have separated from their Great Lakes Algonquian brethren around 1500 and moved westward until the early 19th century, when they settled in a region straddling the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Powder River country of Montana. The last group to migrate westward began their exodus around 1660, traveling from the mouth of the St. Lawrence River near New Brunswick across the Great Lakes until reaching the divide between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.

It was at this junction that the group is said to have split into three divisions that became the Potawatomi, the Ottawa, and the Ojibwe; these three tribal groups ultimately formed an alliance known as the Council of Three Fires. The Cree were largely nomadic, with various bands occupying territory in northern Canada that spanned the entire breadth of the combined distribution of the other Algonquian tribes. Modern-day Cree territories essentially mirror the migrations of their southern Algonquian associates.

The migration patterns of the Kickapoo and the Miami are less clear, although in the 17th century they were known to occupy land in Illinois and Wisconsin. Similarly, the Fox and Sauk people are presumed to have continued to live along the St. Lawrence River until the colonial period, during which they were pushed farther west as a result of various conflicts. Interestingly, two cultural groups, the Shawnee and the Menominee, are presumed to have already been present in the Central Algonquian region and were not party to any migrations from the Northeastern Woodlands.

It has been argued that the Shawnee, residing primarily in Ohio, are descendants of the mound-builder culture (also known as Fort Ancient culture) that evolved from the Hopewell culture dating to 100 b.c.e. This link is considered tenuous by some scholars, however, and remains under debate. Regardless of any additional evidence, the Shawnee consider the Lenni Lenape people (or the Delaware) to be their origin tribe, a trait shared with the 1660 migration group consisting of the Ojibwe and other tribes; this is just one piece of evidence suggesting that the Shawnee migrated with this larger group. Additionally, an archaeological gap in the Ohio region between the 1500s and before the first evidence of Shawnee occupation suggests that the Shawnee residence at the site was discontinuous and perhaps entirely separate from that of the descendants of the Fort Ancient culture.

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