The
Ottawa, meaning traders, are a Native American and First
Nations people. They are related to but distinct from the
Ojibwe nation. They lived near the northern shores of Lake
Huron. There are approximately 15,000 Ottawa living in Michigan,
Ontario, and Oklahoma. The Ottawa language is considered
a divergent dialect of the Ojibwe, characterized by frequent
syncope. The Ottawa language, like the Ojibwe language,
is part of the Algonquian language family.
The Ottawa and Ojibwe were part of a long term alliance
with the Potawatomi tribe, called the Council of Three Fires
and which fought the Iroquois Confederacy and the Sioux.
The Ottawa allied with the French against the British and
the Ottawa Chief Pontiac led a rebellion against the British
in 1763. |