Saulteaux

Location:

The Saulteaux originally lived west of Lake Winnipeg in Sault Ste. Marie which was on an outlet of Lake Superior in Canada. They also lived in northern Michigan and much of the Great Lakes regions. Many Saulteaux now live on Canadian reservations.

Language:

Before the Europeans settled in the United States and Canada, the Saulteaux tribe spoke the Algonquin language. The Algonquin language is one the nine families found in the macro-Algonquin phylum and is found in southern Ontario. In the 21^st century, the Saulteaux tribe speaks mostly English with the Algonquin language saved for tribal ceremonies.

History:

The Saulteaux are part of a larger group that live in the northern states and Canada called the Anishinabe. The Saulteaux had moved west from the Sault Ste. Marie and northern Michigan areas because of the expansion of the fur trading industry and White settlement in the Great Lakes region. The Algonquin language had become the unofficial language of the fur industry because of the extensive trading done by the chiefs of the many Saulteaux tribes. The land of the Saulteaux was not settled by many of the Europeans due to poor soil conditions and a short growing season. Because the chiefs of the Saulteaux tribe were the only connection to the European settlers, much of the Saulteaux culture and language were preserved.

Though this page has been carefully researched, the author does not claim expertise on the Saulteaux.

Please send questions, comments, and corrections to emuseum@mnsu.edu and include the web address of this page.

If you are Saulteaux, your feedback is much appreciated.

Kinistin Saultauex Nation http://www.kinistin.sk.ca/index.php

Sources:

“Ojibwa.” The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 1998. Ed.

http://www.dickshovel.com/ojib.html. Last accessed on March 28, 2000.

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5579/ojibwa.html. Last accessed on March 28, 2000.

Written by: Tara Rose Zitzmann