The Potawatomi Nation
The Potawatomi nation originally existed as a part of a single nation known as the Neshnabek. They first established themselves in what is currently America in present-day upper Michigan, before dividing into three individual nations by the early 15th century: the Ojibwe, the Odawa, and the Potawatomi. After separating they continued to have close relations with one another, forming a strong alliance called the Council of Three Fires. While the Ojibwe moved to the northwest and the Odawa remained in the northeast, the Potawatomi moved south, onto land that is currently Michigan, Wisconsin, Indiana, and eventually Illinois.1
The first contact between the Potawatomi and European settlers occurred in the early to mid-15th century, when French settlers began establishing trading posts in the Great Lakes region. Aware of opportunities for financial profit and resources, the Potawatomi initially allied themselves with the French traders, developing a long-standing alliance in which they assisted the French by trading with them, serving as military allies, and acting as liaisons with other Native nations in the area.2 Following the defeat of the French by the British in the French and Indian/Seven Years War and the subsequent British occupation of formerly French-owned forts, the Potawatomi shifted their allegiance towards the British, whom they would later fight alongside in the War of 1812.3
George Winter's watercolor sketch of prominent Potawatomi leader Ash-Kum. His clothing, a combination of traditional Potawatomi and French-inspired dress, indicates the reciprocal relationships the Potawatomi often developed with settlers.
Their alliances with the French and British are indicative of a larger pattern throughout Potawatomi history of forming reciprocal relationships with settlers when it was beneficial for them. These relationships with settlers also greatly influenced Potawatomi culture-- for example, in drawings done by George Winter, an artist who studied the Prairie Potawatomi community in the 1830s, their clothing reflects a combination of traditional Potawatomi dress and classic European fashion, such as headwear evoking the look of French traders’ fur hats.4
The Potawatomi arrived on the land that included what is now Galesburg by 1750,5 where they coexisted primarily peacefully with the surrounding Sauk, Meskwaki, Miami, and Kickapoo nations.6 The band of Potawatomi established in this area, central, northern, and western Illinois, were known as the Prairie Potawatomi. For much of the late 18th century, settler presence in America was limited to the northeast, so while the Potawatomi in present-day Michigan and Wisconsin were faced with frequent settler inquisition onto their land and forced to engage in negotiations with them, the Potawatomi in Illinois were largely spared from this.7 However, by the early 19th century settler incursions into Illinois had become more common, as expansion into the west became the U.S. government’s priority.
The Prairie Potawatomi band’s official website states that “the Potawatomi people held no real concept of land ownership. Their beliefs taught them that land belonged to all living things alike.”8. However, like so many other Native nations, the Potawatomi were forced to commodify their land under a system of capitalism and settler colonialism which was forced upon them by the U.S. government.
By Maggie Cheng
1 David R. Edmunds, The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1978, 3-4.
2 James A. Clifton, The Prairie People: Continuity and Change in Potawatomi Indian Culture 1665-1965, Lawrence, KS: The Regents Press of Kansas, 1977, 41-44.
3 Clifton, The Prairie People, 73-74.
4 Bonnie Lynn-Sherow, Bonnie, “Exercising the Pencil: George Winter and the Potawatomis Removal to Kansas,” Kansas History 41, vol. 4 (Fall/Winter 2019): 219.
5 Clifton, The Prairie People, 129.
6 Lynn-Sherow, “Exercising the Pencil,” 216.
7 Clifton, The Prairie People, 189.
8 Gary Mitchell, “Tribal History,” The Official Website of the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, Mayetta, KS, https://www.pbpindiantribe.com/about/tribal-history/.
Image: Winter, George. Ash-Kum. Watercolor on paper; pencil undersketching; mounted on heavy paper. George Winter Collection, Purdue University. Accessed May 18th, 2021, https://earchives.lib.purdue.edu/digital/collection/gwinter/id/1001/rec/77.