Society-OJIBWA The Ojibwa are an American Indian ethnolinguistic group centered about the upper Great Lakes (i.e., Lakes Superior and Huron) in both Canada and the United States. They are distributed over nearly the entire region between the lower peninsula of Michigan and adjacent parts of Ontario to the east, and the plains of eastern Saskatchewan to the west. Their northernmost extension runs north of Lake Winnipeg to approximately 54 degrees north latitude, and they extend southward into Minnesota and Wisconsin. They are believed to have occupied this broad area through a series of migrations and conquests, beginning near the end of the seventeenth century and originating from a rather small region adjacent to northern Lake Huron and eastern Lake Superior, probably centered at Sault Ste. Marie. The earliest recorded White contacts with the Ojibwa date from around 1640, and for most of their known history, the Ojibwa have been one of the largest Indian groups in North America. Kinietz (1947: 14) states that in the early days of the English regime (probably around the 1770s) their population was estimated as approximately 25,000-30,000. Barrett (1911: 254) placed their population at about 30,000 in 1910, while the 1930 U. S. census listed over 21,500 Ojibwa in the U. S. alone (Kinietz 1947: 14). More recently, Murdock and O'Leary (1975: vol. 2, p. 168) note that the Canadian Ojibwa numbered 43,948 in 1967, while the U. S. Ojibwa numbered 45,986 in 1970--for a total population of about 89,900. The Ojibwa speak a Central Algonkian language and are most closely related to the Ottawa and Potawatomi. Given their wide dispersal and large numbers, it is not surprising that the Ojibwa manifest some degree of regional differentiation. The following table presents a classification of the Ojibwa into the principal cultural-regional divisions that have been suggested by various authorities: Principal Ojibwa Cultural-Regional Divisions I. Woodlands Ojibwa or Ojibwa proper A. Northern Ojibwa or Saulteaux 1. Northern Saulteaux 2. Southern Saulteaux B. Southern Ojibwa or Chippewa l. Southwestern Chippewa 2. Southeastern Chippewa II. Plains Ojibwa or Bungi The major cultural distinction is between the Woodlands and Plains Ojibwa. The Plains Ojibwa form a rather distinct ethnic group in language, social organization, art, ceremonial, and costume. They are derived from small groups of Ojibwa who migrated into the Plains, beginning near the end of the eighteenth century, and, under Northern Plains influence, underwent extensive cultural change, including the adoption of a bison-hunting economy. They occupy parts of northern North Dakota and Montana and are also found just across the Canadian border in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The Woodlands Ojibwa represent the classic Ojibwa culture type, which was widely popularized by writers on American Indians, such as Henry M. Schoolcraft (1951-57). But the Ojibwa attained their greatest popularity through the use of Schoolcraft's material by Longfellow in his famous poem of Hiawatha, for while the name Hiawatha is drawn from Iroquois sources, the stories are nearly all Ojibwa. According to Dunning (1959: 5), the Northern and Southern Ojibwa may be differentiated on the grounds of ecology and social structure, although both were characterized by exogamous patrilineal sibs and cross-cousin marriage. The Northern Ojibwa had small, isolated bands, a family hunting territory system, and a hunting-fishing-trapping economy. The Southern Ojibwa tended toward larger, more complex, and sedentary communities with more diversified economy. The area of the Northern Ojibwa extends in the northeast to the headwaters of the river systems flowing into the western side of James Bay, while in the west it is bounded roughly by Lake Winnipeg and its river systems. The southern boundary is the northern shore of Lake Superior and a line running somewhat north of but parallel to the Minnesota-Ontario border. Both Skinner (1912: 117) and Kinietz (1947: 13) distinguish, within the Northern Ojibwa, between the Northern and Southern Saulteaux. No precise boundary is given, but the Northern Saulteaux consist of those bands located more toward Lake Winnipeg, while the Southern Saulteaux consist of those bands located more toward Lake Superior. Within the Southern Ojibwa, the distinction between the Southwestern and Southeastern Chippewa is a much clearer one, on both geographical and cultural grounds. The Southwestern Chippewa occupy the area south of Lake Superior running from Upper Michigan, through northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, and along the southern border of Ontario approximately as far west as Lake of the Woods. Their economy included very little farming, but the harvesting of wild rice and maple sugar was important. Those of interior Wisconsin and Minnesota were chiefly hunters and trappers, with fishing secondary, while among the more northern groups fishing was the major subsistence activity. The area of the Southeastern Chippewa includes Lower Michigan, Lake Huron, and a sector of Ontario to the north of Lake Huron. Their subsistence economy was based on farming, hunting, fishing, and the harvesting of maple sugar. They had large, permanent summer villages along the northern shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan, but dispersed into extended family hunting bands during the winter. Culture summary by Robert O. Lagace Barrett, Samuel Alfred. The dream dance of the Chippewa and Menominee Indians of northern Wisconsin. Milwaukee, Public Museum, Bulletin, 1, pt. 2 (1911): 251-406. Dunning, Robert William. Social and economic change among the northern Ojibwa. [Foreword by Meyer Fortes]. [Toronto] University of Toronto Press, [1959]. 14, 217 p. illus. Kinietz, W. Vernon. Chippewa village: the story of Katikitegon. Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, Cranbrook Press, 1947. 259 p. Murdock, George Peter. Ethnographic bibliography of North America. 4th ed., 5 v. By George Peter Murdock and Timothy J. O'Leary. New Haven, Human Relations Area Files Press, 1975. Skinner, Alanson. Notes on the Eastern Cree and Northern Saulteaux. New York, American Museum of Natural History, 1912. 177 p. 7862