Algonquin

Algonquin or Algonkin, Native Americans of the Algonquian linguistic stock and of the Northeast culture area. They originally lived in the vicinity of the Ottawa River and its northern tributaries, especially the Gatineau River, in what is now Québec province. The name Algonquin may stem from a native phrase meaning “at the place of spearing fish.” French explorers and colonizers in Canada, whom the Algonquins befriended, later applied the name to various neighboring tribes. The name came to be used for an entire language family, usually with the spelling Algonquian or Algonkian.

As a result of their alliance with the French, the Algonquin came into conflict with the tribes of the Iroquois Confederacy, who invaded their territory from the south in the early 17th century and destroyed their villages. By the middle of the 17th century Algonquin survivors had been dispersed westward. Some joined other tribes, such as the Ottawa. In later years, some families returned to their ancestral homeland.

The Algonquin, like other northern Algonquians, depended mostly on hunting, fishing, and gathering for sustenance, with little farming. They lived in villages of bark-covered wigwams; Algonquian wigwams were typically cone-shaped rather than dome-shaped. They also constructed rectangular houses. For transportation they used birchbark canoes, toboggans, and snowshoes. The central concept of their religion was the all-pervading Great Spirit, referred to in some Algonquian dialects as Gitchee Manitou or simply Manitou.

About 2,000 people of Algonquin ancestry now live in Canada, mainly in Ontario and Québec.