Potawatomi

This article is about the people. For the language, see Potawatomi language.
"Pottawatomie" redirects here. For other uses, see Pottawatomie (disambiguation).
Potawatomi
Bodéwadmi
Potawatomi at a rain dance in 1920
Total population
28,000
Regions with significant populations
 United States (Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Illinois)
 Canada (Ontario)
Languages
English, Potawatomi
Religion
Catholicism, Methodism, Midewiwin
PersonBodéwadmi
     (Neshnabé)
PeopleBodéwadmik
     (Neshnabék)
LanguageBodwéwadmimwen
     (Neshnabémwen)

The Potawatomi /pɒtəˈwɒtəmi/ ⓘ,[1][2] also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. The Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi are part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibwe and Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi are considered the "youngest brother". Their people are referred to in this context as Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.[3]

In the 19th century, some bands of Potawatomi were pushed to the west by European/American encroachment. In the 1830s the federal government removed most from their lands east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory - first in Kansas, Nebraska, and last to Oklahoma. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes, in addition to the Potawatomi in Oklahoma.

  1. ^ "Potawatomi". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  2. ^ Clifton, James A. (1978). "Potawatomi." In Northeast, ed. Bruce G. Trigger. Vol. 15 of Handbook of North American Indians, ed. William C. Sturtevant. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, pg. 725
  3. ^ "Three Fires Council – CPN Cultural Heritage Center". Archived from the original on 2023-09-29. Retrieved 2023-10-23.