Potawatomi Totally Explained

Everything about Pottawatomi totally explained

The Potawatomi (also spelled Pottawatomie and Pottawatomi, among many variations) are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied to them by their Anishinaabe cousins. They originally called themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe.
The Potawatomi were part of a long term alliance with the Ojibwe and Ottawa, called the Council of Three Fires. In the Council of Three Fires, Potawatomi were considered the "youngest brother."

History

The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records which suggest 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 the Iroquois and Neutral Nation.
   Potawatomi warriors were an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy and took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War, although their allegiance switched repeatedly between the English and the Americans.
   At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomies were present near Fort Dearborn, in the current location of Chicago. This tribe was agitated by chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), and a force of about 500 attacked the evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; a majority of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force were killed, along with many wounded. This attack is referred to as the Fort Dearborn massacre. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counciled against the attack and later saved some of the civilians that were being ransomed by the Potawatomis. There was also Potawatomi land in Crown Point, Indiana.
   According to an article in the Chicago Tribune, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Indians purchased of land near Shabbona, Illinois, in rural DeKalb County.

Bands

There are several active bands of Potawatomi:

Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma
Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin
Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi (also known as the Gun Lake tribe), based in Dorr, Michigan in Allegan County, Michigan
Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan
Moose Deer Point First Nation, Ontario, Canada
Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawatomi, based in Calhoun County, Michigan
Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana
Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Kansas
Stoney Point and Kettle Point bands, Ontario, Canada
Walpole Island band; an unceded island between the United States and Canada

Population

Estimates of the original Potawatomi population range as high as 15,000, but 8,000 is probably closer to the truth. Although they'd undergone 30 years of war, relocation, and epidemic, the French estimated there were about 4,000 in 1667. Since all Potawatomi bands had gathered into four villages near Green Bay at that time, this probably was fairly accurate. Later estimates vary between 1,200 to 3,400, but the Potawatomi had separated into many bands, and these estimates failed to list all of them. Accurate counts were not possible until the Potawatomi had been moved to Kansas. In 1854 the Indian Bureau listed 3,440 on the reservation, but some had left with the Kickapoo for northern Mexico. The report also mentioned 600 "strolling Potawatomi," who had avoided removal and were somewhere in Michigan, Indiana, and Wisconsin. It also failed to include the 4-600 Potawatomi in Canada. The 1910 census listed 2,440 Potawatomi in the United States, with another 180 in Canada - total of 2,620. The current population of all Potawatomi in Canada and the United States is almost 28,000.

Clans

Chauvignerie (1736) and Morgan (1877) mentions among the Potawatomi doodems (clans) being:

Bené (Turkey)

Gagagshi (Crow)

Gnew (Golden Eagle)

Jejakwé (Thunderer, for example Crane)

Mag (Loon)

Mekchi (Frog)

Mek (Beaver)

Mewi'a (Wolf)

Mgezewa (Bald Eagle)

Mkedésh-gékékwa (Black Hawk)

Mko (Bear)

Mshéwé (Elk)

Mshike (Turtle)

Nmé (Sturgeon)

Nmébena (Carp)

Shagéshi (Crab)

Wabozo (Rabbit)

Wakeshi (Fox)

Location

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 annexed by the U.S. government. Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, most of the Potawatomi people were forcibly removed from the tribe's lands. Many perished en route to new lands in the west through Iowa, Kansas and Oklahoma, following what became known as the "Trail of Death".

Language

Bodéwadmimwen or Bodéwadmi Zheshmowen or Neshnabémwen) is a Central Algonquian language and is spoken around the Great Lakes in Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as in Kansas and in southern Ontario, by fewer than 50 Potawatomi people, all elderly. There is currently an effort underway to revive the language.
Potawatomi language is the most similar to the Odawa language; however, 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 great amount of vowel syncope.
Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Allegan, Waukegan, Muskegon, Oconomowoc and Skokie.

Further Information

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