A tribe of the Algonquian family, seated on the northern part of the
Michigan peninsula when discovered by the
French.
When the
Iroquois overthrew the Hurons in 1649 the frightened
Ottawas fled to the islands in
Green Bay, and soon afterwards joined the
Sioux beyond the
Mississippi.
They were speedily expelled, when they recrossed the great river; and after the
French settled at
Detroit a part of the Ottawas became seated near them.
Meanwhile the Jesuits had established missions among them.
Finally the part of the nation that was at
Mackinaw passed over to
Michigan; and in the war that resulted in the conquest of
Canada the Ottawas joined the
French.
Pontiac (q. v.), who was at the head of the
Detroit family, engaged in a great conspiracy in 1763, but was not joined by those in the north of the peninsula.
At that time the whole tribe numbered about 1,500.
In the Revolution and subsequent hostilities they were opposed to the
Americans, but finally made a treaty of peace at
Greenville, in 1795, when one band settled on the
Miami River.
In conjunction with other tribes, they ceded their lands around
Lake Michigan to the
United States in 1833 in exchange for lands in
Missouri, where they flourished for a time.
After suffering much trouble, this emigrant band obtained a reservation in the
Indian Territory, to which the remnant of this portion of the family emigrated in 1870.
The
upper Michigan Ottawas remain in the
North, in the vicinity of the
Great Lakes.
There are some in
Canada, mingled with other
Indians.
Roman Catholic and Protestant missions have been established among them.
Their own simple religion embraces a belief in a good and evil spirit.
In 1899 there were 162 Ottawas at the Quapaw agency,
Indian Territory, and a larger number at the Mackinac agency,
Michigan, where 6,000 Ottawas and Chippewas were living on the same reservation.
