Nation

Potawatomi

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 43 treaties and agreements that name Potawatomi as a party, from Treaty of Fort Harmar with the Wyandot and allied nations, 1789 to Potawatomi at Washington, DC (1867).

C. C. Royce’s 1899 schedule records 72 cessions of land from Potawatomi between 1795 and 1891: about 78 million acres by this atlas’s estimate, counting overlaps once. 33 of them came through treaties and agreements. The largest was Land of the Chippewa, Delaware and others in Indiana and Ohio, ceded 1795 (area 11), about 19 million acres, ceded under Treaty of Greenville, 1795.

The atlas records 3 broken treaty promises involving Potawatomi: Greenville 1795 and Fort Wayne 1809: encroachment, then cession under pressure, Potawatomi Trail of Death (1838) and the disputed Yellow River treaty (1836) and Termination policy: House Concurrent Resolution 108 (1953) and Public Law 280.

The records group it with Anishinaabe. Today, Citizen Potawatomi Nation, Oklahoma, Forest County Potawatomi Community, Wisconsin, Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi, Hannahville Indian Community, Michigan, Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, Michigan, Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, Michigan and Indiana and 1 more 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 treatyNot statedShapes 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

Bodwe'aadamiikAnishinaabemowin (as written by Grand Traverse Band)
NishnabecPotawatomi (as printed by OHS)

Names in treaties and records

Gens de FeuFrench
Pottawatomi

Land recorded as ceded

Potawatomi About 78 million acres recorded as ceded by the end of 1894

Treaty or agreement37 million
Treaty under documented pressure29 million
Removal treaty12 million

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

72 cessions. Follow Potawatomi 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 72, as named in the 1899 record

Show all 72

Party to 43

Show all 43

Present-day governments that carry this history 7

Named in 3

Part of 1

Anishinaabe

Sources

gtbindians.org/history.aspunclassified
Niinwe nswi shkwaadeng ndijibaami, Odawak, Ojibwek miinawa Bodwe'aadamiik.
okhistory.org/publications/enc/entryunclassified
The Potawatomi (Nishnabec or True People) indirectly encountered the French in 1616
pbpindiantribe.com/other-potawatomi-nationsunclassified
Gun Lake Tribe / Match-E-Be-Nash-She-Wish Band of Pottawatomi Indians

Research notes

part_of reflects usage in V004/V011 lists only.

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

Correct this record