Mackinac Island is an island and resort area, covering 4.35 square miles (11.3 km2) in land area, in the U.S. state of Michigan. The name of the island in Odawa is Michilimackinac and "Mitchimakinak" in Ojibwemowin meaning "Big Turtle". It is located in Lake Huron, at the eastern end of the Straits of Mackinac, between the state's Upper and Lower Peninsulas. The island was long home to an Odawa settlement and previous indigenous cultures before European colonization began in the 17th century. It was a strategic center of the fur trade around the Great Lakes. Based on a former trading post, Fort Mackinac was constructed on the island by the British during the American Revolutionary War. It was the site of two battles during the War of 1812 before the northern border was settled and the US gained this island in its territory.
Emmet County is a county located in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the northernmost county in the Lower Peninsula. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 34,112. The county seat is Petoskey.
Harbor Springs is a city and resort community in Emmet County, Michigan. The population was 1,194 in the 2010 census.
The Potawatomi, also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie, are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquin 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 Ojibway and Odawa (Ottawa). In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi are considered the "youngest brother" and are referred to in this context as Bodwéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and refers to the council fire of three peoples.
The Odawa, said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They have long had territory that crosses the current border between the two countries, and they are federally recognized as Native American tribes in the United States and have numerous recognized First Nations bands in Canada. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe and Potawatomi peoples.
Michilimackinac is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region along Lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior. Today it is considered to be mostly within the boundaries of Michigan, in the United States. Michilimackinac was the original name for present day Mackinac Island and Mackinac County.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in northwest Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula. Sam McClellan is the current tribal chairman, elected in June 2016 to a four-year term after succeeding Al Pedwaydon, who served from 2012 to 2016.
Great Lakes Algonquian syllabics is a writing system for several Algonquian languages that emerged during the nineteenth century and whose existence was first noted in 1880. It was originally used near the Great Lakes: Fox, Sac, and Kickapoo, in addition to Potawatomi. Use of the script was subsequently extended to the Siouan language Ho-Chunk. Use of the Great Lakes script has also been attributed to speakers of the Ottawa dialect of the Ojibwe language, but supporting evidence is weak.
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 Civil War, in 1867 they 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.
Andrew Jackson Blackbird, also known as Makade-binesi, was an Odawa (Ottawa) tribe leader and historian. He was author of the 1887 book, History of the Ottawa and Chippewa Indians of Michigan.
The Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (LTBBOI) is a federally recognized Native American tribe of Odawa. A large percentage of the more than 4000 tribal members continue to reside within the tribe's traditional homelands on the northwestern shores of the state of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The historically delineated reservation area, located at 45°21′12″N84°58′41″W, encompasses approximately 336 square miles (870 km2) of land in Charlevoix and Emmet counties. The largest communities within the reservation boundaries are Harbor Springs, where the tribal offices are located; Petoskey, where the Tribe operates the Odawa Casino Resort; and Charlevoix.
Little River Band of Ottawa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe of the Odawa people in the United States. It is based in Manistee and Mason counties in northwest Michigan. It was recognized on September 21, 1994.
L'Arbre Croche, known by the Odawa people as Waganagisi, was a large Odawa settlement in Northern Michigan. The French called it L'Arbre Croche for the large crocked tree that marked the center of the settlement and was visible for many miles. It covered the region from Harbor Springs to Cross Village in present-day Emmet County, Michigan.
Old Wing Mission is a historic building at 5298 147th Ave. in Holland, Michigan. It is the oldest surviving house in the township.
The Gros Cap Archaeological District is a set of three archaeological sites located in Moran Township, Michigan, USA, designated 20MK6, 20MK7 and 20MK111. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982. The three sites cover 13.5 acres (5.5 ha) and include a village site and portions of the Gros Cap Cemetery.
The Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians is a state recognized tribe of Ojibwe and Odawa Native Americans, based in the state Michigan. The tribe is headquartered in St. Ignace, Mackinac County and has around 4,000 enrolled members. Today most tribal members live in Mackinac, Chippewa, Emmet, Cheboygan, and Presque Isle counties, however many tribal members are also located throughout the state of Michigan and the United States.
Theodore Karamanski is a professor and historian specializing in American and Public History. He is a professor of history at Loyola University Chicago, where he directs the Public History graduate Program.
The Battle Point Site, also designated 20OT50, is an archaeological site located on Battle Point, along the Grand River in Crockery Township, Ottawa County, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
Yvonne Walker Keshick is an Anishinaabe quill artist and basket maker.
Wabiwindego (d.1837), also spelled Wobwindego, Wobiwidigo, or Wabaningo, and known among the Ojibwe as Waabishkindip, was a leader of the Grand River Band of Ottawa in what would become the U.S. State of Michigan. He negotiated the 1836 Treaty of Washington with the federal government on behalf of the Grand River Ottawa, leading to the admission of the State of Michigan to the Union. Several villages he led formed the basis for several modern Michigan towns, including Lowell, Whitehall, and Montague.
