Description
The Ottawa, also known as the Odawa, are a tribe who originally lived on the East Coast and migrated into Michigan, Ohio, and southern Canada. Their name is from the Indian word “adawe,” meaning “traders,” because they had long been known as intertribal traders and barterers. They called themselves Nishnaabe, meaning “original people.” After migrating from the East Coast in ancient times, they settled on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, and the Bruce Peninsula in the present-day province of Ontario, Canada. According to Anishinaabeg tradition, and from recordings in Wiigwaasabak (birch bark scrolls), the Odawa people came from the eastern areas of North America, or Turtle Island, and from a region called Dawnland along the East Coast.
Language
The Odawa dialect is considered one of several divergent dialects of the Ojibwe language
Culture
The Ottawa were widely known as traders; their location and negotiating skills enabled them to become middlemen in intertribal commerce. Their canoes traveled as far west as Green Bay, Wisconsin, and as far east as Quebec to buy and sell such merchandise as cornmeal, furs, sunflower oil, mats, tobacco, and medicinal herbs. Before colonization by the French and English, the Ottawa lived in agricultural villages in summer and in family groups for winter hunts. Planting and harvesting crops were women’s occupations; hunting and fishing were the responsibility of men. Due to the extensive trade network maintained by the Odawa, many of the North American interior nations became known to Europeans by the names the Odawa used for them, rather than by the nations’ own names.