Total population | |
---|---|
1,110+ [1] | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States ( Maine) | |
Languages | |
English, Mi'kmaq | |
Religion | |
Roman Catholicism, [2] traditional tribal religion | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Mi'kmaq people |
The Mi'kmaq Nation (formerly the Aroostook Band of Micmacs) is a US federally recognized tribe of Mi'kmaq people, based in Aroostook County, Maine. [1] [3] Their autonym is Ulustuk. Of the 28 bands of Mi'kmaq people, the Mi'kmaq Nation is the only one in the United States. The Mi'kmaq Nation were the first non-US power to sign a treaty with the United States, the Treaty of Watertown, on 6 July 1776. [4]
The tribe has no reservation but owns 1,350 acres (5.5 km2) of land. [4] The United States Census Bureau listed 1,047 acres (4.236 km2) of trust land in the 2010 United States Census, located at 46°55′13″N67°53′15″W / 46.92028°N 67.88750°W in the Town of Limestone. An official population of 197 inhabitants was counted on the trust lands. The band is headquartered in Presque Isle. The governing council consists of nine members that serve four-year terms with the tribal chief and vice chief, along with three tribal council seats elected together and four other tribal council seats elected two years later. [5]
They form part of a large Algonquian-speaking nation known as the Mi'kmaq. Their ancestral homeland reaches as far northeast as Newfoundland and historically includes Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, a large part of New Brunswick, and a small part of Quebec in the Chaleurs Bay area.
The band was federally recognized on November 26, 1991, after a long campaign. [6] At the time of federal recognition, the tribe was known as the Aroostook Band of Micmacs. [7] In January 2022, the tribe officially adopted the name Mi'kmaq Nation. [8]
Aroostook County is a county in the U.S. state of Maine along the Canada–United States border. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,105. The county seat is Houlton, with offices in Caribou and Fort Kent.
Monticello is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States on the northern branch of the Meduxnekeag River. The population was 737 at the 2020 census. History
Presque Isle is the commercial center and largest city in Aroostook County, Maine, United States. The population was 8,797 at the 2020 Census. The city is home to the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Northern Maine Community College, Northern Maine Fairgrounds, the Aroostook Centre Mall, and the Presque Isle International Airport.
The Mi'kmaq are an Indigenous group of people of the Northeastern Woodlands, native to the areas of Canada's Atlantic Provinces, primarily Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland, and the Gaspé Peninsula of Quebec as well as Native Americans in the northeastern region of Maine. The traditional national territory of the Mi'kmaq is named Mi'kma'ki.
Tribal sovereignty in the United States is the concept of the inherent authority of Indigenous tribes to govern themselves within the borders of the United States.
The Sac and Fox Nation is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michigan area, they were forcibly relocated to Oklahoma in the 1870s and are predominantly Sauk. The Sac and Fox Oklahoma Tribal Statistical Area (OTSA) is the land base in Oklahoma governed by the tribe.
The L'Anse Indian Reservation is the land base of the federally recognized Keweenaw Bay Indian Community of the historic Lake Superior Band of Chippewa Indians.. The reservation is located primarily in two non-contiguous sections on either side of the Keweenaw Bay in Baraga County in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The Keweenaw Bay Community also manages the separate Ontonagon Indian Reservation.
Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is the popular name for the land-base for the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe in Central Minnesota, about 100 miles (160 km) north of Minneapolis-St. Paul. The contemporary Mille Lacs Band reservation has significant land holdings in Mille Lacs, Pine, Aitkin and Crow Wing counties, as well as other land holdings in Kanabec, Morrison, and Otter Tail Counties. Mille Lacs Indian Reservation is also the name of a formal Indian reservation established in 1855. It is one of the two formal reservations on which the contemporary Mille Lacs Band retains land holdings. The contemporary Mille Lacs band includes several aboriginal Ojibwe bands and villages, whose members reside in communities throughout central Minnesota.
The Upper Sioux Indian Reservation, or Pezihutazizi in Dakota, is the reservation of the Upper Sioux Community, a federally recognized tribe of the Dakota people, that includes the Mdewakanton.
State-recognized tribes in the United States are organizations that identify as Native American tribes or heritage groups that do not meet the criteria for federally recognized Indian tribes but have been recognized by a process established under assorted state government laws for varying purposes or by governor's executive orders. State recognition does not dictate whether or not they are recognized as Native American tribes by continually existing tribal nations.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians is a federally recognized Native American tribe located in northwest Michigan on the Leelanau Peninsula. Sandra Witherspoon is the current tribal chairperson, elected in May 2024 to a four-year term after succeeding David Arroyo, who served a single term from 2020 to 2024.
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.
In the United States, an American Indian tribe, Native American tribe, Alaska Native village, Indigenous tribe, or Tribal nation may be any current or historical tribe, band, or nation of Native Americans in the United States. Modern forms of these entities are often associated with land or territory of an Indian reservation. "Federally recognized Indian tribe" is a legal term in United States law with a specific meaning.
The Winnebago Reservation of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska is located in Thurston County, Nebraska, United States. The tribal council offices are located in the town of Winnebago. The villages of Emerson, south of First Street, as well as Thurston, are also located on the reservation. The reservation occupies northern Thurston County, Nebraska, as well as southeastern Dixon County and Woodbury County, Iowa, and a small plot of off-reservation land of southern Craig Township in Burt County, Nebraska. The other federally recognized Winnebago tribe is the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin.
The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe of Nevada is a federally recognized tribe of Northern Paiute Indians in northwest Nevada. Their autonym in their language is Agai Panina Ticutta, meaning "Fish Lake Eaters." They are traditionally known as the "Fish Eaters."
Joint Tribal Council of the Passamaquoddy Tribe v. Morton, 528 F.2d 370, was a landmark decision regarding aboriginal title in the United States. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit held that the Nonintercourse Act applied to the Passamaquoddy and Penobscot, non-federally-recognized Indian tribes, and established a trust relationship between those tribes and the federal government that the State of Maine could not terminate.
The Aroostook Indian was a newsletter published between 1969 and 1976 at Ricker College in Houlton, Maine. It was created by the Association of Aroostook Indians (AAI) to unite Maliseet and Micmac Indians living both on and off-reservation in the northern part of the state. The newsletter allowed for widespread announcements among the Indians of Aroostook County. It exemplified the measures the AAI were going through in order to unite those from the Maliseet and Micmac tribes. Community members, often from as far away as Boston, contributed short stories, announcements, recipes, poems, and other small pieces.
The Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians of Maine (HBMI) is a federally recognized tribe of Maliseet, whose land is along the Meduxnekeag River in Maine, United States. They are headquartered in Littleton, Maine, located in Aroostook County.
The Mackinac Bands of Chippewa and Ottawa Indians is a non-profit organization for people who self-identify as being of Ojibwe and Odawa descent, based in the state of Michigan. The organization is headquartered in St. Ignace, Mackinac County and has around 4,000 members. Today most members live in Mackinac, Chippewa, Emmet, Cheboygan, and Presque Isle counties, however many members are also located throughout the state of Michigan and the United States. The organization is not recognized by the State of Michigan or by the US federal government.