Ojibwe

Ojibwe Culture

The Ojibwe had some unique cultures within their large tribe, influenced by the environment they occupied. Southern bands of the Ojibwe adapted some of the lifestyle of Plains Native Americans–semi-nomadic horseback riders who would hunt buffalo. Northern bands of Objiwe had customs more akin to their northeastern Algonquin counterparts.

Fig. 2 Ojibwe man

Overall, the Ojibwe would relocate if the food was scarce but generally maintained year-round villages. They built birch bark wigwams as their primary form of shelter and used birch bark in constructing canoes and containers.

Ojibwe Diet

The Ojibwe, for the most part, are farmers who grew corn, beans, pumpkins, and squash. They were also hunters and gatherers who would hunt mammals, fish, shellfish, fowl, and wild edible plants near the lakes and rivers.

A staple food of the Chippewa is wild rice. This plant is found along rivers, lakes, and streams. It is a tall grass with an edible seed resembling rice. It is harvested in the summer, usually by the women of the tribe while floating in canoes.

Fig. 3 Obijwe Canoe

Ojibwe Society

Like other Algonquin tribes, the Ojibwe did not necessarily have gender roles within their bands. In Ojibwe society, there were individuals known as "egwakwe" who were people in the tribe who would best serve the tribe in a non-traditional gender role, such as a woman who was apt at warfare or a man who was keen on agriculture.

The Ojibwe believe that all living and non-living things have spirits that can be controlled to help or harm their enemies. Like most other Algonquin tribes, the Ojibwe believe in one all-powerful spirit from which lesser spirits gained power; this spirit is called Manitou. A lesser spirit but one that is central to Objiwe beliefs is Manabozho–a trickster spirit who brought medicine to Chippewa society.

Ojibwe History

As mentioned above, the Chippewa people are one of North America's largest and most powerful tribes. This is due to their early and consistent contact with French fur traders in the early 1600s. Because they were trusted allies of the French, the Chippewa were among the first Native Americans to receive European firearms. With these weapons, the Chippewa had a solid technological and military advantage over their local rival tribes. The Chippewa drove out the Sioux into the Great Plains, the Sac, Fox, and Kickapoo southward and managed to push back the Iroquois in the east.

Fig. 5 Ojibwe birch-bark wigwam

During the 1600s and early 1700s, various bands of Ojibwe dominated parts of present-day Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, North Dakota, and Ontario. The Chippewa had complete control over Lake Huron's territory to the Missouri River.

In the 1700s, the Chippewa were allies of the French during the French and Indian War, fighting the British during that conflict and again during Pontiac's Rebellion. These alliances switched during the American Revolution when the Ojibwe allied with the British against the American Colonists. Then they fought the Americans after the Revolutionary War during the Indian Wars of the Northwest and joined with the British again during the War of 1812. In 1815, after the war ended, the Ojibwe surrendered along with the British, ceding much of their territorial land to the United States.

The Ojibwe Tribe Today

Present-day Chippwea lives on reservations in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, North Dakota, Montana, Ontario, and cities in the Midwest United States and central Canada. A few tribes have maintained their traditional ways of life, such as hunting and fishing and using their arts and crafts as income. Some Ojibwe bands have supported themselves by adopting the mainstream culture and the use of operating casinos on tribal lands as a means of increasing tribal revenue.