Lake Superior Chippewa

This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (September 2012) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

The Lake Superior Chippewa (Anishinaabe: Gichigamiwininiwag) are a large number of Ojibwe (Anishinaabe) bands living around Lake Superior; this territory is considered part of northern Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in the United States. They migrated into the area by the seventeenth century, encroaching on the Eastern Dakota people who had historically occupied the area. The Ojibwe defeated the Eastern Dakota, who migrated west into the Great Plains after the final battle in 1745. While they share a common culture including the Anishinaabe language, this highly decentralized group of Ojibwe includes at least twelve independent bands in the region.

As the Lake Superior Chippewa in the nineteenth century, leaders of the bands negotiated together with the United States government under a variety of treaties to protect their historic territories against land theft by European-American settlers. The United States set up several reservations for bands in this area under the treaties, culminating in one in 1854. This enabled the people to stay in this territory rather than to be forced west of the Mississippi River, as the government had attempted. Under the treaty, bands with reservations have been federally recognized as independent tribes; several retain Lake Superior Chippewa in their formal names to indicate their shared culture.