Anishinaabe

Anishinaabe
ᐊᓂᔑᓈᐯᒃ

Homelands of Anishinaabe and Anishinini, ca. 1800
Regions with significant populations
Canada (Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba) United States (Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oklahoma, and Wisconsin)
Languages
English, French, Ojibwe (Including Odawa), Potawatomi, and Algonquin
Religion
Midewin, Methodism, and others
Related ethnic groups
Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi, Oji-Cree, Algonquin peoples and Métis

The Anishinaabe (alternatively spelled Anishinabe, Anicinape, Nishnaabe, Neshnabé, Anishinaabeg, Anishinabek, Aanishnaabe ^[1]) are a group of culturally related Indigenous peoples present in the Great Lakes region of Canada and the United States. They include the Ojibwe (including Saulteaux and Oji-Cree), Odawa, Potawatomi, Mississaugas, Nipissing and Algonquin peoples. The Anishinaabe speak Anishinaabemowin, or Anishinaabe languages that belong to the Algonquian language family.

At the time of first contact with Europeans they lived in the Northeast Woodlands and the Subarctic, and some have since spread to the Great Plains.

The word Anishinaabe translates to "people from whence lowered". Another definition refers to "the good humans", meaning those who are on the right road or path given to them by the Creator Gitche Manitou, or Great Spirit. Basil Johnston, an Ojibwe historian, linguist, and writer wrote that the term's literal translation is "Beings Made Out of Nothing" or "Spontaneous Beings". The Anishinaabe believe that their people were created by divine breath.^[2]

The word Anishinaabe is often mistakenly considered a synonym of Ojibwe. However, Anishinaabe refers to a much larger group of Nations.