[Note: This is a single part of what will be, by my classification, about 240 compact tribal histories (contact to 1900). It is limited to the lower 48 states of the U.S. but also includes those First Nations from Canada and Mexico that had important roles ( Huron, Assiniboine, etc.).

This history's content and style are representative. The normal process at this point is to circulate an almost finished product among a peer group for comment and criticism. At the end of this History you will find links to those Nations referred to in the History of the Algonkin.

Using the Internet, this can be more inclusive. Feel free to comment or suggest corrections via e-mail. Working together we can end some of the historical misinformation about Native Americans. You will find the ego at this end to be of standard size. Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to your comments... Lee Sultzman.

The Ottawa River Valley which forms the present border between Ontario and Quebec.

At the time of their first meeting with the French in 1603, the various Algonkin bands probably had a combined population somewhere in the neighborhood of 6,000. The British estimate in 1768 was 1,500. Currently, there are almost 8,000 Algonkin in Canada organized into ten separate First Nations: nine in Quebec and one in Ontario.

Both Algonkin and Algonquin are correct spellings for the name of the tribe, but Algonquian either refers to their language or, collectively, to the group of tribes that speak related Algonquian languages. The source of Algonkin is unclear. Other than the names of their bands, the Algonkin do not appear to have had a name for themselves as a people. Some researchers have suggested that Algonkin came from the Maliseet word for "ally," but others prefer the Micmac's "algoomeaking" that translates roughly as "place of spearing fish from the bow of a canoe." The most likely possibility is the Maliseet word "allegonka" meaning "dancers," which Samuel de Champlain might have mistaken for their tribal name while watching a combined Algonkin, Maliseet, and Montagnais victory dance in 1603. The first group of Algonkin that the French encountered were the Kichesipirini who, because their village was located on an island in the Ottawa River, were called "La Nation de l'Ilse." At first, Algonkin was used only for a second group, the Weskarini. However, by 1615 the name was applied to all of the Algonkin bands living along the Ottawa River.

The Iroquois usually referred to them as the Adirondack, a derogatory name meaning literally "they eat trees," but they also used the name for several other Algonquian-speaking tribes south of the St. Lawrence. Among themselves, the Algonkin differentiated between bands which remained in the upper Ottawa Valley year-round and those that moved to the St. Lawrence River during the summer - the northerners being called "Nopiming daje Inini" (inlanders). The French translated this as Gens des Terres and, in the process, sometimes confused them with Tetes de Boule, their name for the Attikamek (different Algonquian language) who were part of the Montagnais or Cree.

Algonquian. If for no other reason, the Algonkin would be famous because their name has been used for the largest native language group in North America. The downside is the confusion generated, and many do not realize there actually was an Algonkin tribe, or that all Algonquian do not belong to the same tribe. Algonquian is a family of related languages, but it has many dialects, not all of which are mutually intelligible. Algonquian-speaking peoples dominated most of the northeastern North America with the exception of Iroquian-speakers in New York, northern Pennsylvania and southern Ontario. Their range extended from Hudson Bay southward along the Atlantic coast to North Carolina and west to the Mississippi River. On the Great Plains, Algonquian-speakers would include Cheyenne, Arapaho, Gros Ventres, Blackfoot, Cree, and Ojibwe, and some have even suggested that the Wiyot and Yurok in northern California speak a distant form of Algonquian. The dialect of the Algonkin themselves is closely related to that of the Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Potawatomi making the Algonkin the easternmost speakers of this group. Although there is some variation between the different Algonkin bands, most still prefer their traditional language with French or English being spoken only when necessary.

Algonkin bands in 1630:

Iroquet - Known to the Huron as the Atonontrataronon or Ononchataronon, they lived along Ontario's South Nation River.

Kichesipirini "people of the great river" - largest and most powerful group of Algonkin. Known variously as: Algoumequins de l'Isle, Allumette, Big River People, Gens d l'Isle, Honkeronon (Huron), Island Algonkin, Island Indians, Island Nation, Kichesippiriniwek, Nation de l'Isle, Nation of the Isle, and Savages de l'Isle. Main village was on Morrison's (Allumette) Island.

Kinounchepirini (Keinouche, Kinonche, Pickerel, Pike) - sometimes listed as an Algonkin band, but after 1650 associated with the Ottawa. Originally found along the lower Ottawa River below Allumette Island.

Matouweskarini (Madawaska, Madwaska, Matouchkarine, Matouashita, Mataouchkarini, Matouechkariniwek, Matouescarini). The Madawaska River in the Upper Ottawa Valley.

Nibachis - Muskrat Lake near present-day Cobden, Ontario. Otaguottaouemin (Kotakoutouemi, Outaoukotwemiwek). Upper Ottawa River above Allumette Island.

Otaguottaouemin - (Kotakoutouemi, Outaoukotwemiwek)

Quenongebin

Sagaiguninini - (Saghiganirini)

Saginitaouigama - (Sagachiganiriniwek)

Weskarini - (Algonkin Proper, La Petite Nation, Little Nation, Ouaouechkairini, Ouassouarini, Ouescharini, Ouionontateronon (Huron),Petite Nation) - North side of the Ottawa River along the Lievre and the Rouge Rivers in Quebec.

Later bands or names associated with the Algonkin: Abitibi (Abitibiwinni), Barriere, Bonnechere, Dumoine, Kipawa, Lac des Quinze, Mainwawaki (Mainwaki), Mitchitamou, Ouachegami, Outchatarounounga, Outimagami, Outurbi, Tadoussac, Temagami, Timiskaming (Temiskaming, Timiscimi).