Ojibwe

Ojibwe (Chippewa)
ᐅᒋᑉᐧᐁ (ᒋᑉᐯᐧᐊ)

Precontact distribution of Ojibwe-speaking people
Total population
170,742 in United States (2010)[1] 160,000 in Canada (2014)[2]
Regions with significant populations
Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta) United States (Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana)
Languages
English, Ojibwe, French
Religion
Ojibwe religion, Catholicism, Methodism
Related ethnic groups
Assiniboine, other Algonquian peoples Especially other Anishinaabe, Cree, and Métis

The Ojibwe (syll.: ᐅᒋᐺ; plural: Ojibweg ᐅᒋᐺᒃ) are an Anishinaabe people whose homeland (Ojibwewaki ᐅᒋᐺᐘᑭ)^[3] covers much of the Great Lakes region and the northern plains, extending into the subarctic and throughout the northeastern woodlands. Ojibweg, being Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands and of the subarctic, are known by several names, including Ojibway or Chippewa. As a large ethnic group, several distinct nations also understand themselves to be Ojibwe as well, including the Saulteaux, Nipissings, and Oji-Cree.

According to the U.S. census, Ojibwe people are one of the largest tribal populations among Native American peoples in the United States. In Canada, they are the second-largest First Nations population, surpassed only by the Cree. They are one of the most numerous Indigenous peoples north of the Rio Grande.^{[4][better source needed]} The Ojibwe population is approximately 320,000 people, with 170,742 living in the United States as of 2010^[update],^[1] and approximately 160,000 living in Canada.^[2] In the United States there are 77,940 mainline Ojibwe, 76,760 Saulteaux, and 8,770 Mississauga, organized in 125 bands. In Canada they live from western Quebec to eastern British Columbia.

The Ojibwe language is Anishinaabemowin, a branch of the Algonquian language family.

They are part of the Council of Three Fires (which also include the Odawa and Potawatomi) and of the larger Anishinaabeg, which also include Algonquin, Nipissing, and Oji-Cree people. Historically, through the Saulteaux branch, they were a part of the Iron Confederacy with the Cree, Assiniboine, and Metis.^[5]

The Ojibwe are known for their birchbark canoes, birchbark scrolls, mining and trade in copper, as well as their harvesting of wild rice and maple syrup.^[6] Their Midewiwin Society is well respected as the keeper of detailed and complex scrolls of events, oral history, songs, maps, memories, stories, geometry, and mathematics.^{[7][failed verification]}

European powers, Canada, and the United States have colonized Ojibwe lands. The Ojibwe signed treaties with settler leaders to surrender land for settlement in exchange for compensation, land reserves and guarantees of traditional rights. Many European settlers moved into the Ojibwe ancestral lands.^[8]