By Luke Fuglie
The Ojibwa
are an American Indian group centered in the Upper Great Lakes area in
both Canada and the United States. They are distributed as far north
as Lake Winnipeg
and as far south as Minnesota
and Wisconsin.
There eastern and western borders run between Ontario and Saskatchewan
which covers most of central Canada. They occupied this area through
a series of migrations beginning around the seventeenth century.
They are believed to originated on the eastern part of Lake Superior near
present day Sault St. Marie.
The Ojibwa spoke
Central Algonkian language and are most closely related to the Ottawa.
The Ojibwa were
the largest and most powerful Great Lakes tribe. Although the Sioux
and Apache get most of the attention, the Ojibwa
were the ones who defeated the Iroquois
and forced the Sioux out of Minnesota.
The earliest recorded white contacts
with the Ojibwa
date all the way back to about 1640. The trade with the Europeans
lasted about two hundred years and this became a great resource for the
Ojibwa tribes.
The beaver pelts gave the tribe great wealth and power. The pelts
were thick in the winter which made them high in demand in the worst time
of the year. The Ojibwa
were great warriors but did not fight the white Americans after 1815.
They believed in peace and became known to the whites as a non threatening
tribe. They signed more treaties
with the United States than any other tribe (51). They also signed
treaties
with the French, British, and Canadians more than thirty times. They
were a peaceful tribe who just wanted a life for themselves to enjoy but
because of this they were cheated by the government.
After the fur
trade, the Ojibwa
found themselves between a rock and a hard place. They lived in a
region that had poor soil and a short growing season which forced them
to find other food sources. They were hunters and gatherers who harvested
wild rice and maple syrup. There hunting methods were superior to
most tribes. Fishing, especially sturgeon, provided for most of their diet
and was very important to the northern tribes. They were skilled
craftsman who built birch bark canoes which became important to them because
of the dependency on fishing. The Ojibwa
rarely used horses and never hunted buffalo. The only domestic animal
they used was a dog which was a favorite dish at many feasts. They
always found a way to adapt to the surrounding environment and were a tribe
of survivors.
The Ojibwa
were a peaceful tribe but they did practice some savage acts. They
were known to scalp their victims in time of war because it was a symbol
of a great warrior. The white and Iroquois
scalp was a symbol of greatness. Like other Great Lakes Warriors,
they did practice cannibalism of their dead enemies. The reason for
this practice is unknown but it was believed that the warriors became stronger
after consuming the hearts of their enemies. Polygamy was a rare
practice but did happen under extreme circumstances.
The Ojibwa
religion was similar to a political organization. They performed
very little formal ceremonies. There medicines consisted of medical
herbs gathered by the women and shamans.
The diseases that invaded the tribe were beyond any medical remedies.
This problem was solved by the creation of the Grand Medicine Society.
This society banded together different cultures to solve the disease problem.
It also created a structure that banded different tribes together to reach
a common goal. It probably was the most significant part of the Ojibwa
culture.
In studying and looking at the Ojibwa
culture it seems to give you a new idea of a typical Native
American. They had the ability to go to war with any tribe or
army that they wanted but they chose to be peaceful and save their people
from suffering. They respected the government even though they knew
that they were getting cheated. They were sickened with pride
for their tribe and their culture and they wanted nothing more than freedom
for their people. The saddest part is they were betrayed by the people
they trusted and became a isolated on small reservations with disease and
famine. They were a people that I respect with all my heart and I
truly believe that they are still the true frontier heroes.
