Ojibwa Indians

From Ohio History Central
Revision as of 11:49, 11 July 2013 by SPosmontier (Talk | contribs)

The Signing of the Treaty of Greene Ville.jpg
The Signing of the Treaty of Greene Ville, 1795, as depicted by Howard Chandler Christy (painted in 1945). Anthony Wayne dictates terms to the Native Americans. This painting is currently hanging in the rotunda of the Ohio Statehouse.

The Ojibwa Native Americans, also known as the Chippewa, lived mainly in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, and Ontario, Canada at the time of European contact. They were part of the Algonquian Native Americans. The Algonquian natives consisted of various tribes that spoke similar languages. The Ojibwas were closely related to the Ottawa natives and Potawatomi natives. They were sustained through hunting, fishing, and some agriculture.

The Ojibwa natives participated in the fur trade with French merchants. Numerous Frenchmen found spouses among Ojibwa women. Ojibwa warriors fought with the French against the British in the French and Indian War. Following France’s defeat, the Ojibwa natives assisted Pontiac in Pontiac’s Rebellion. Pontiac was a chief of the Ottawas, but his mother was Ojibwa. During the American Revolution, the Ojibwas allied themselves with the British. The natives feared colonial settlers would continue to move into Native American land if they did not receive assistance from the British.

General Anthony Wayne defeated the Ojibwas, who fought alongside the natives of the Ohio Country at the Battle of Fallen Timbers. They gave up their claim to lands in Ohio with the signing of several treaties, including the Treaty of Fort Harmar (1789), the Treaty of Greeneville (1795), the Treaty of Fort Industry (1805), and the Treaty of the Maumee Rapids (1817). Unlike most other native tribes east of the Mississippi River, the United States government did not force a majority of the Ojibwas off of their land. Rather, the Ojibwas lost some of their territory in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and North Dakota, but the natives retained much of this land as reservations. In 2005, approximately 176,000 Ojibwa natives resided in North America.

See Also

