Algonquin
{{ethnic group|group=Algonquin
poptime=11,000 | popplace=Ontario, Quebec | langs=English, French, Algonquin | rels=Christianity | related=Odawa and Ojibwe
This article is about the Native American tribe. For other uses see: Algonquin (disambiguation)
The Algonquins or Algonkins are an aboriginal North American people speaking Algonquin, an Algonquian language. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa and Ojibwe, with whom they form the larger Anishinaabe grouping.
The tribe has also given its name to the much larger, heterogenous group of Algonkian peoples, who stretch from Virginia to the Rocky Mountains and north to Hudson Bay. Most Algonkins, however, live in Quebec; the nine Algonkin bands in that province and one in Ontario have a combined population of about 11,000. (Popular usage reflects some confusion on the point, in that the term "Algonquin" is sometimes usedto refer to all Algonquian-speaking societies).Although the historical Algonkin society was largely hunting- and fishing-based, some Algonkins practiced agriculture and cultivated corn, beans, and squash, the famous "Three Sisters" of indigenous horticulture.
Algonquin-speaking people also practiced large amounts of agriculture, particularly south of the Great Lakes where the climate allows for a larger growing season. Other notable indigenous crops historically farmed by Algonquins are the sunflower and tobacco. Even among groups who mainly hunted, agricultural products were an important source of food and were obtained by trading with or raiding societies that practiced larger amounts of agriculture.They fought the Iroquois due to their rivalry in the fur trade; and formed an alliance with the Montagnais to the east in 1570.
From 1603 they allied themselves with the French under Samuel de Champlain. In 1632, after Sir David Kirke's occupation of New France had demonstrated French colonial vulnerability, the French began to trade muskets to the Algonkins and other aboriginal allies. French Jesuits began to actively seek Algonkin conversions to Roman Catholicism, opening up a bitter divide between traditionalists and converts.
Starting in 1721, many Christian Algonkins began to summer at Oka, a Mohawk settlement near Montreal that was then considered one of the Seven Nations of Canada. Algonkin warriors continued to fight in alliance with France until the British conquest of Quebec in 1760. Fighting on behalf of British Crown, the Algonkins took part in the Barry St Leger campaign during the American Revolutionary War.
Loyalist settlers began encroaching on Algonkin lands shortly after the Revolution. Later, the lumber industry began to move up the Ottawa valley, and the Algonkins were relegated to a string of small reserves.In recent years, tensions with the lumber industry have flared up again among Algonkin communities, in response to the practice of clear-cutting. In Ontario, an ongoing Algonkin land claim has, since 1983, called into dispute much of the southeastern part of the province, stretching from near North Bay to near Hawkesbury and including Ottawa, Pembroke, and most of Algonquin Provincial Park.
In 2000, Algonkins from Timiskaming First Nation played a significant part in the local popular opposition to the plan to convert Adams Mine into a garbage dump.* Kitigan Zibi Anishinabeg, Kitigan Zibi QC (population 2,577)
* Algonquins of Pikwàkanagàn First Nation, Golden Lake ON (population 1,871)
* Timiskaming First Nation, Notre-Dame-du-Nord QC (population 1,553)
* Nation Anishinabe du Lac Simon, Lac Simon QC (population 1,459)
* Abitibiwinni First Nation, Pikogan QC (population 814)
* Eagle Village First Nation, Témiscaming QC (population 676)
* Long Point First Nation, Winneway River QC (population 652)
* Algonquins of Barrière Lake, Lac Rapide QC (population 616)
* Anicinape Community of Kitcisakik, Val d'Or QC (population 384)
* Wolf Lake First Nation, Témiscaming QC (population 262)
* Wahgoshig First Nation, Matheson ON (population 250)
* Ardoch Algonguin First Nation (non-status)
* Bonnechere Algonquin Community (non-status)
* Dumoine Lake Band of Algonquin (historical)
* Grassy Lake Band of Algonquin (historical)
These population figures are from Canada's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.
The Nipissing First Nation of North Bay, Ontario is also sometimes considered to belong to the Algonkin group of Anishinaabeg.* Algonquin Round Table
* Algonquin Mythology
* Kingdom of Saguenay* Algonquin Language sample
* History of the Algonkin
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