Anishinaabemdaa - Anishinaabe language website

Little FoxLearn Anishinaabemowin at



Now there are two CD-ROMs
The original "Anishinaabemowin" and "Anishinaabemdaa"

Each CD-ROM is $39 US or CA.
To order:
call Kenny Pheasant
(231) 398-6892 or email
More info...
   anishinaabemowin CD-ROM

History of the Anishinaabek

history of the Aniahinaabek




We have always been a nation, and we knew one another as the Anishinaabek. It was not until the French and European settlers arrived on this part of the continent that we became known as the tribes now called Ojibwe, Odawa and Bodwe’aadamiinh. I heard an elder speak about this in his teachings. He said that the Mackinaw-St. Ignace area was a huge community at one time. One day, the young hunters brought news that they had met a people who were not of our culture and language and that they were moving in this direction. Sure enough, the day arrived when a ship brought people. These people knew very little of our culture and language. They asked if they could meet with the elders, and so the meeting began. Shortly after the meeting began, a group of men got up and left. The settlers asked, “What are they doing?” although they thought they were asking, “Who are they?” So we told them what they were doing. They were going to build lodges: the Ojibwek. The meeting went on and another group of men got up and left, and again the same question was asked. We told them they were going to trade: the Odawak. Now remember, they could not speak our language very well, nor did we understand their language very well. After the meeting ended, the settlers saw young men picking up firewood and putting wood in the fire. The same question was asked, and we answered that they were the fire keepers: the Bodwe’aadamiinhk. History moves on a few hundred years, and now we find out in the history books that the native people of the Great Lakes area are known as the Chippewa, the Ottawa and the Pottawattamii.

Click here to view - Chronology of Events and Federal Indian Policy

Indian Residential School Survey