The Potawatomi/pɒtəˈwɒtəmi/,[1][2] also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquin family. The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi are part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibway and Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi are considered the "youngest brother" and are referred to in this context as Bodwéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.
In the 18th century, they were pushed to the west by European/American encroachment and eventually removed from their lands in the Great Lakes region to reservations in Oklahoma. Under Indian Removal, they eventually ceded many of their lands, and most of the Potawatomi relocated to Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes. In Canada, over 600 First Nation governments or bands are recognized. In the US, 574 tribes or bands are federally recognized.[3]
The English "Potawatomi" is derived from the OjibweBoodewaadamii(g) (syncoped in the Ottawa as Boodewaadmii(g)). The Potawatomi name for themselves (autonym) is Bodéwadmi (without syncope: Bodéwademi; plural: Bodéwadmik), a cognate of the Ojibwe form. Their name means "those who tend the hearth-fire," which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires. The word comes from "to tend the hearth-fire", which is bodewadm (without syncope: bodewadem) in the Potawatomi language; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are boodawaadam and boodwaadam, respectively.
Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé; plural: Neshnabék), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe(g), meaning "original people".
Teachings
The Potawatomi teach their children about the "Seven Grandfather Teachings" of wisdom, respect, love, honesty, humility, bravery, and truth toward each other and all creation,[4] each one of which teaches them the equality and importance of their fellow tribesmen and respect for all of nature’s creations. The story itself teaches the importance of patience and listening, as it follows the Water Spider's journey to retrieve fire for the other animals to survive the cold. As the other animals step forth one after another to proclaim that they shall be the ones to retrieve the fire, the Water Spider sits and waits while listening to her fellow animals. As they finish and wrestle with their fears, she steps forward and announces that she will be the one to bring it back. As they laugh and doubt her, she weaves a bowl out of her own web that sails her across the water to retrieve the fire. She brings back a hot coal out of which they make fire, and they celebrate her honor and bravery.
History
Regalia at the Field Museum in Chicago
The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records, which suggests that in the early 17th century they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan. During the Beaver Wars, they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Nation, who were seeking expanded hunting grounds. In 1658, the Potawatomi were estimated to number around 3,000.
As an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy, Potawatomi warriors took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War. Their alliances switched repeatedly between Great Britain and the United States, as power relations shifted between the nations, and they calculated effects on their trade and land interests.
At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi inhabited the area near Fort Dearborn, where Chicago developed. Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the United States evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; they killed most of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force and wounded many others. George Ronan, the first graduate of West Point to be killed in combat, died in this ambush. The incident is referred to as the "Fort Dearborn Massacre". A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Pheasant), counseled his fellow warriors against the attack. Later he saved some of the civilian captives who were being ransomed by the Potawatomi.[5]
French period (1615–1763)
The French period of contact began with early explorers who reached the Potawatomi in western and northern Michigan. They also found the tribe located along the Door Peninsula of Wisconsin. By the end of the French period, the Potawatomi had begun a move to the Detroit area, leaving the large communities in Wisconsin.[5] The French helped to solidify their alliance with the Potawatomi by helping them raid numerous Sauk villages and Fox villages in the early 1700s as well as by compelling the Kickapoo nation to make many concessions to the Potawatomi.[6]
Onanghisse (Wnaneg-gizs "Shimmering Light") at Green Bay
Otchik at Detroit
British period (1763–1783)
The British period of contact began when France ceded its lands after the defeat in the French and Indian War (or Seven Years' War). Pontiac's Rebellion was an attempt by Native Americans to push the British and other European settlers out of their territory. The Potawatomi captured every British frontier garrison but the one at Detroit.[5]
The Potawatomi nation continued to grow and expanded westward from Detroit, most notably in the development of the St. Joseph villages adjacent to the Miami in southwestern Michigan. The Wisconsin communities continued and moved south along the Lake Michigan shoreline.[5]
The United States treaty period of Potawatomi history began with the Treaty of Paris (1783), which ended the American Revolutionary War and established the United States' interest in the lower Great Lakes. It lasted until the treaties for Indian Removal were signed. The US recognized the Potawatomi as a single tribe. They often had a few tribal leaders whom all villages accepted. The Potawatomi had a decentralized society, with several main divisions based on geographic locations: Milwaukee or Wisconsin area, Detroit or Huron River, the St. Joseph River, the Kankakee River, Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers, the Illinois River and Lake Peoria, and the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers.
The chiefs listed below are grouped by geographic area.
The removal period of Potawatomi history began with the treaties of the late 1820s when the United States created reservations. Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson negotiated for the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa, and Potowatomi in the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1829), by which they ceded most of their lands in Wisconsin and Michigan. Some Potawatomi became religious followers of the "Kickapoo Prophet", Kennekuk. Over the years, the US reduced the size of the reservations under pressure for land by invading European Americans.[citation needed]
The final step followed the 1833 Treaty of Chicago, negotiated for the tribes by Caldwell and Robinson. In return for land cessions, the US promised new lands, annuities, and supplies to enable the peoples to develop new homes. The Illinois Potawatomi were removed to Nebraska and the Indiana Potawatomi to Kansas, both west of the Mississippi River. Often, annuities and supplies were reduced or late in arrival, and the Potawatomi suffered after their relocations. Those in Kansas later were removed to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma. The removal of the Indiana Potawatomi was documented by a Catholic priest, Benjamin Petit, who accompanied the Indians on the Potawatomi Trail of Death. Petit died while returning to Indiana. His diary was published in 1941 by the Indiana Historical Society.[9]
Many Potawatomi found ways to remain, primarily those in Michigan. Others fled to their Odawa neighbors or to Canada to avoid removal to the west.
Sauganash (Billy Caldwell) removed his band ultimately to what would become Council Bluffs, Iowa in 1838, where they lived at what was known as Caldwell's Camp. Father Pierre-Jean De Smet established a mission there that was active 1837-1839.
Shupshewahno (19th century – 1841) or Shipshewana (Vision of a Lion) at Shipshewana Lake.[10]
La Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mention among the Potawatomi doodems (clans) being:
Bené (Turkey)
Gagagshi (Crow)
Gnew (Golden Eagle)
Jejakwe' (Thunderer, i.e. Crane)
Mag (Loon)
Mekchi (Frog)
Mek (Beaver)
Mewi'a (Wolf)
Mgezewa (Bald Eagle)
Mkedésh-gékékwa (Black Hawk)
Mko (Bear)
Mshéwé (Elk)
Mshike' (Turtle)
Nme' (Sturgeon)
Nmébena (Carp)
Shage'shi (Crab)
Wabozo (Rabbit)
Wakeshi (Fox)
Ethnobotany
They regard Epigaea repens as their tribal flower and consider it to have come directly from their divinity.[16]Allium tricoccumis consumed in traditional Potawatomi cuisine.[16] They mix an infusion of the root of Uvularia grandiflora with lard and use it as salve to massage sore muscles and tendons.[16] They use Symphyotrichum novae-angliae as a fumigating reviver.[16]Vaccinium myrtilloides is part of their traditional cuisine, and is eaten fresh, dried, and canned.[16] They also use the root bark of the plant for an unspecified ailment.[16] The Potawatomi use the needles of Abies balsamea to make pillows, believing that the aroma prevented one from getting a cold.[17] They also use the balsam gum of Abies balsamea as a salve for sores, and take an infusion of the bark for tuberculosis and other internal afflictions.[17]
The Potawatomi first lived in lower Michigan, then moved to northern Wisconsin, and eventually settled into northern Indiana and central Illinois. In the early 19th century, major portions of Potawatomi lands were seized by the U.S. government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, by which the tribe ceded its lands in Illinois, most of the Potawatomi people were removed to Indian Territory west of the Mississippi River. Many perished en route to new lands in the west on their journey through Iowa, Kansas, and Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), following what became known as the "Trail of Death".
Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie; in Potawatomi Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen) is a CentralAlgonquian language spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin. It is also spoken by Potawatomi in Kansas, Oklahoma, and southern Ontario.[19] Fewer than 1300 people speak Potawatomi as a first language, most of them elderly.[20] The people are working to revitalize the language.[citation needed]
The Potawatomi language is most similar to the Odawa language; it also has borrowed a considerable amount of vocabulary from Sauk. Like the Odawa language, or the Ottawa dialect of the Anishinaabe language, the Potawatomi language exhibits a great amount of vowel syncope.
^Humphries, Maria; Verbos, Amy Klemm (2014-08-01). "A Native American Relational Ethics: An Indigenous Perspective on Teaching Human Responsibility". Journal of Business Ethics. 123 (1): 1–9. doi:10.1007/s10551-013-1790-3. ISSN1573-0697. S2CID143379265.
United States (Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Wisconsin)
Canada (Ontario)
