Nation

Ottawa

Not yet reviewed by this nation. What follows comes from public records and research. It does not speak for the nation.

Region: Great Lakes

In the record

The United States made 24 treaties and agreements that name Ottawa as a party, from Treaty of Fort McIntosh, 1785 to Seneca; Mixed Seneca and Shawnee; Quapaw; Confederated Peoria, Kaskaskia, Wea, and Piankashaw; Miami; Ottawa; and Wyandot at Washington, DC (1867).

C. C. Royce’s 1899 schedule records 77 cessions of land from Ottawa: about 82 million acres by this atlas’s estimate, counting overlaps once. 45 of them came through treaties and agreements. The largest was Land of the Chippewa and Ottawa in Michigan, ceded 1836 (area 205), about 25 million acres, ceded under Treaty of Washington (1836) with the Ottawa and Chippewa.

The atlas records 1 broken treaty promise involving Ottawa: Greenville 1795 and Fort Wayne 1809: encroachment, then cession under pressure.

The records group it with Anishinaabe. Today, Grand River Bands of Ottawa Indians, Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians, Michigan, Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, Michigan, Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians, Michigan and Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma carry this history, as their own pages or research records say.

Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources. This is what the United States’ treaty record says, not the nation’s own account.

Treaty or agreementTreaty under documented pressureRemoval treatyShapes from the 1899 federal record: approximate, not legal boundaries.

Names

Each name shows where it comes from. A nation’s own name is shown as the nation writes it.

Self-names

OdawaAnishinaabemowin
OdawakAnishinaabemowin (plural, GTB)

Names in treaties and records

OttawaEnglish/French

Land recorded as ceded

Ottawa About 82 million acres recorded as ceded by the end of 1894

Treaty or agreement44 million
Treaty under documented pressure26 million
Removal treaty11 million

Estimate from Royce’s maps; overlapping cessions counted once. Not a survey or legal measure.

77 cessions. Follow Ottawa through the years on the map

Who is doing the work

This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:

Working with these nations

Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
Native Land Conservancy (Massachusetts) Native-led Native-led land conservation Give on their site Website
White Earth Land Recovery Project (WELRP) Native-led Recover the original White Earth reservation land base Give on their site Website

Native legal and land defense, nationally

Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website

Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.

Connections

These links were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.

Land recorded in this nation’s name 77, as named in the 1899 record

Show all 77

Party to 24

Show all 24

Present-day governments that carry this history 5

Part of 1

Anishinaabe

Named in 1

Greenville 1795 and Fort Wayne 1809: encroachment, then cession under pressure1795

Sources

okhistory.org/publications/enc/entryunclassified
The name Ottawa in the Algonquian language means "to trade" or "to buy and sell."
gtbindians.org/history.aspunclassified
Niinwe nswi shkwaadeng ndijibaami, Odawak, Ojibwek miinawa Bodwe'aadamiik.
ottawatribe.org/unclassified
The tribe is descended from the Odawa people, who historically inhabited the Great Lakes region of North America.

Kind: Nation
Confidence: Medium
Nation review: Not yet reviewed by this nation

Correct this record