Description
Algonquin, North American Indian tribe of closely related Algonquian-speaking bands originally living in the dense forest regions of the valley of the Ottawa River and its tributaries in present-day Quebec and Ontario, Canada. The tribe should be differentiated from the Algonquian language family, as the latter term refers to a much larger entity composed of at least 24 tribes of Northeast Indians and Plains Indians. The original distribution of the Algonquian tribe is not known precisely, but the different groups of this tribe are distributed from Virginia to Canada. Algonquian tribes can be found mainly on the East Coast of North America, but also in the Plains region and as far as the Maritimes in Canada.
Language
Algonquin is either a distinct Algonquian language closely related to the Ojibwe language or a particularly divergent Ojibwe dialect.
Culture
The Algonkians relied as much on hunting and fishing for food as working the land. These tribes used canoes to travel the inland waterways. The bow and arrow brought small and large game, and the spear generated ample supplies of fish for the Algonkian peoples. Corn and squash were a few of the crops that were cultivated all along the eastern seaboard.