Illiniwek - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Illinois Confederation, sometimes referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were a group of twelve to thirteen Native American

Native Americans in the United States

Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

tribe

Tribe

A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...

s in the upper Mississippi River

Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the largest river system in North America. Flowing entirely in the United States, this river rises in western Minnesota and meanders slowly southwards for to the Mississippi River Delta at the Gulf of Mexico. With its many tributaries, the Mississippi's watershed drains...

valley of North America

North America

North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

. The tribes were the Kaskaskia

Kaskaskia

The Kaskaskia were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation or Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region...

, the Cahokia

Cahokia (tribe)

The Cahokia were an Algonquian speaking Native American tribe and member of the Illinois Confederation...

, the Peoria

Peoria (tribe)

The Peoria people are a Native American tribe. Today they are enrolled in the federally recognized Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. Historically, they were part of the Illinois Confederation.-History:...

, the Tamaroa

Tamaroa (tribe)

The Tamaroa were a Native American tribe in the central Mississippi River valley of North America, and a member of the Illiniwek or Illinois Confederacy of twelve to thirteen tribes....

, Moingwena, Michigamea, Albiui, Amonokoa, Chepoussa, Chinkoa, Coiracoentanon, Espeminkia, Maroa, Matchinkoa, Michibousa, Negawichi, and Tapouara. At the time of European contact in the 17th century, they were believed to number several thousand people.

History

When French explorers first journeyed to the region from Canada

Canada, New France

Canada was the name of the French colony that once stretched along the St. Lawrence River; the other colonies of New France were Acadia, Louisiana and Newfoundland. Canada, the most developed colony of New France, was divided into three districts, each with its own government: Quebec,...

in the early 17th century, they found the area inhabited by a vigorous, populous Algonquian

Algonquian languages

The Algonquian languages also Algonkian) are a subfamily of Native American languages which includes most of the languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically similar Algonquin dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is a...

-speaking nation. What we know today about the Illinois is based on the historical account Jesuit Relations, written by French Jesuit priests. The missionaries who lived among the various native nations wrote the Relations and sent the reports back to their superiors in France.

The Illinois spoke various dialects of the Miami-Illinois language, one of the Algonquian

Algonquian languages

language family. Among the earliest renditions of the modernized, Anglicized term "Illiniwek" were Liniouek (1656), "Aliniouek" (1658), "Alimiwec" (1660), "irini8ak" (1662), and "Ilinioüek" (1667). In 1670 Claude Allouez referred to a band of natives as "IlimoucK" (the editor added an alternative spelling "Iliniouek") in one sentence and "Ilinioüetz" in the next. The English translation changed the latter spelling to "Iliniouetz." In the variable spelling of the times, the name of Allouez was also spelled "Alloues," "Alloez," Aloes," "Aloez," "Aloues," and "Daloes" in these early records.

Illinois was not the tribes' name for themselves, or autonym. Rather, Illinois is a French transliteration of an Old Ottawa term for them, or exonym: /ilinwe/ 'he speaks the ordinary way'. This in turn was presumably borrowed from the Illinois or Old Miami verb /irenweewa/, which has the same meaning as the Ottawa form. The Illinois' autonym was Inoka (sometimes spelled Inoca), as it appears in all three Illinois dictionaries from the late 17th/early 18th century. For example, in the Illinois-French dictionary from the early 18th century often attributed to Gravier, the word 'In8ca' is translated as Illinois peuple. Or, in the 1725 LeBoullenger French-Illinois dictionary, the same word is spelled inoca, and translated Illinois. (The symbol 8' in old French usage represents the vowel /o/ in Illinois.)

In the 17th century, the Illinois suffered from a combination of exposure to Eurasia

Eurasia

Eurasia is a continent or supercontinent comprising the traditional continents of Europe and Asia ; covering about 52,990,000 km2 or about 10.6% of the Earth's surface located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres...

n infectious diseases, to which they had no natural immunity

Immunity (medical)

Immunity is a biological term that describes a state of having sufficient biological defenses to avoid infection, disease, or other unwanted biological invasion. Immunity involves both specific and non-specific components. The non-specific components act either as barriers or as eliminators of wide...

, and warfare by the expansion of the Iroquois

Iroquois

The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...

into the eastern Great Lakes

Great Lakes

The Great Lakes are a collection of freshwater lakes located in northeastern North America, on the Canada – United States border. Consisting of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth by total surface, coming in second by volume...

region. The Iroquois had hunted out their traditional lands and sought more productive hunting and trapping areas. They sought furs to purchase European goods in the fur trade

Fur trade

The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of world market for in the early modern period furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the most valued...

.

When a Peoria warrior

Warrior

A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...

murdered the Ottawa

Ottawa (tribe)

The Odawa or Ottawa, said to mean "traders," are a Native American and First Nations people. They are one of the Anishinaabeg, related to but distinct from the Ojibwe nation. Their original homelands are located on Manitoulin Island, near the northern shores of Lake Huron, on the Bruce Peninsula in...

war chief Pontiac

Chief Pontiac

Pontiac or Obwandiyag , was an Ottawa leader who became famous for his role in Pontiac's Rebellion , an American Indian struggle against the British military occupation of the Great Lakes region following the British victory in the French and Indian War. Historians disagree about Pontiac's...

in 1769, the northern tribes retaliated against the Illiniwek. They suffered more losses. Many of the Illinois migrated to present-day eastern Kansas

Kansas

Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...

to escape the pressure from other tribes and encroaching Europeans settlers.

Culture

The Illinois lived in a seasonal cycle related to cultivation of domestic plants and hunting, with movement from semi-permanent villages to hunting camps. They planted crops of maize

Maize

Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...

(corn), beans, and squash, known as the "Three Sisters

Three Sisters (agriculture)

The Three Sisters are the three main agricultural crops of various Native American groups in North America: squash, maize, and climbing beans ....

". They prepared dishes such as sagamite
Sagamite
Sagamité is a native-American stew made from hominy or Indian corn. Additional ingredients varyingly include vegetables, wild rice, brown sugar, animal fat, beans, smoked fish or animal brains....

. They also gathered wild foods such as nuts, fruit, roots and tubers. In the hunting season, the men hunted bison

Bison

Members of the genus Bison are large, even-toed ungulates within the subfamily Bovinae. Two extant and four extinct species are recognized...

, deer

Deer

Deer are the ruminant mammals forming the family Cervidae. Species in the Cervidae family include white-tailed deer, elk, moose, red deer, reindeer, fallow deer, roe deer and chital. Male deer of all species and female reindeer grow and shed new antlers each year...

, elk

Elk

The Elk is the large deer, also called Cervus canadensis or wapiti, of North America and eastern Asia.Elk may also refer to:Other antlered mammals:...

, bear

Bear

Bears are mammals of the family Ursidae. Bears are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans, with the pinnipeds being their closest living relatives. Although there are only eight living species of bear, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the Northern...

, cougar, lynx

Lynx

A lynx is any of the four Lynx genus species of medium-sized wildcats. The name "lynx" originated in Middle English via Latin from Greek word "λύγξ", derived from the Indo-European root "*leuk-", meaning "light, brightness", in reference to the luminescence of its reflective eyes...

, turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, geese and duck

Duck

Duck is the common name for a large number of species in the Anatidae family of birds, which also includes swans and geese. The ducks are divided among several subfamilies in the Anatidae family; they do not represent a monophyletic group but a form taxon, since swans and geese are not considered...

. Women prepared the meat for preservation and the hides for equipment and clothing. They tapped maple

Maple

Acer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as maple.Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or together with the Hippocastanaceae included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group system, favour inclusion in...

trees made the sap into a drink or boiled it for syrup and sugar.

Present day

As a consequence of the Indian Removal Act

Indian Removal Act

The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830.The Removal Act was strongly supported in the South, where states were eager to gain access to lands inhabited by the Five Civilized Tribes. In particular, Georgia, the largest state at that time, was involved in...

, in the 1830s the Illinois were relocated from where they had migrated to eastern Kansas to northeastern Indian Territory. Today they chiefly reside in Ottawa County, Oklahoma

Ottawa County, Oklahoma

Ottawa County is a county located in the U.S. state of Oklahoma. As of 2000, the population was 33,194. Its county seat is Miami. It was named for the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma.Ottawa County was established in 1907.-Geography:...

, as the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

External links

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