 official tribal flag | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 2,500[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Oklahoma) | |
| Languages | |
| Ojibwe (Ottawa dialect), English | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, traditional tribal religion | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Odawa tribes, Potawatomi, and Ojibwe |
The Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of four federally recognized Native American tribes of Odawa people in the United States. Its Algonquian-speaking ancestors had migrated gradually from the Atlantic coast and Great Lakes areas, reaching what are now the states of Michigan and Ohio in the 18th century. In the late 1830s the United States removed the Ottawa to west of the Mississippi River, first to Iowa, then to Kansas in what was Indian Territory.
Following the United States Civil War, in 1867 the Ottawa sold their land in Kansas to move again, to purchase land in another section of Indian Territory, in what would become northeast Oklahoma. They were authorized by Congress to buy land from the Quapaw, the predominant tribe in this area.
The other three Ottawa tribes are located in the state of Michigan, in what was part of the traditional Odawa territory. They are the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians and the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians. In addition, there are First Nations of Odawa people in Ontario, Canada, including on Manitoulin Island, their original homeland.
- ^ 2011 Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory. Archived 2012-01-23 at the Wayback Machine Oklahoma Indian Affairs Commission. 2011: 26. Retrieved 24 Jan 2012.