The Wyandot people, or Wyandotte and Waⁿdát, are

Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands Indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands include Native American tribes and First Nation bands residing in or originating from a cultural area encompassing the northeastern and Midwest United States and southeastern Canada. It is part ...

. The Wyandot are Iroquoian

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

of North America who emerged as a confederacy of tribes around the north shore of

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border ...

with their original homeland extending to

Georgian Bay Georgian Bay (french: Baie Georgienne) is a large bay of Lake Huron, in the Laurentia bioregion. It is located entirely within the borders of Ontario, Canada. The main body of the bay lies east of the Bruce Peninsula and Manitoulin Island. To ...

of Lake Huron and

Lake Simcoe Lake Simcoe is a lake in southern Ontario, Canada, the fourth-largest lake wholly in the province, after Lake Nipigon, Lac Seul, and Lake Nipissing. At the time of the first European contact in the 17th century the lake was called ''Ouentironk' ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and occupying some territory around the western part of the lake. The Wyandot, not to be mistaken for the Huron-Wendat, predominantly descend from the Tionontati tribe. The Tionontati (or Tobacco/Petun people) never belonged to the Huron (Wendat) Confederacy. However, the Wyandot(te) have connections to the Wendat-Huron through their lineage from the Attignawantan, the founding tribe of the Huron. The four Wyandot(te) Nations are descended from remnants of the Tionontati, Attignawantan and Wenrohronon (Wenro), that were "all unique independent tribes, who united in 1649-50 after being defeated by the Iroquois Confederacy." After their defeat during prolonged warfare with the Five Nations of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian-speaking confederacy of First Nations peoples in northeast North America/ Turtle Island. They were known during the colonial years to ...

in 1649, the surviving members of the confederacy dispersed, some took residence at

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

with the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

and others were adopted by neighboring nations, such as the Tionontati or Tobacco to become the Wyandot. Later they occupied territory extending into what is now the United States, especially Michigan, northern Ohio, Kansas and finally northeastern Oklahoma due to U.S. federal removal policies. They were related to other Iroquoian peoples in the region, such as their powerful competitors, the

Five Nations of the Iroquois The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...

who occupied territory mostly on the south side of Lake Ontario but had hunting grounds along the St. Lawrence River. They were also related to the neighboring

Erie Erie (; ) is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. Erie is the fifth largest city in Pennsylvania and the largest city in Northwestern Pennsylvania with a population of 94,831 a ...

Neutral Neutral or neutrality may refer to: Mathematics and natural science Biology * Neutral organisms, in ecology, those that obey the unified neutral theory of biodiversity Chemistry and physics * Neutralization (chemistry), a chemical reaction in ...

Wenro The Wenrohronon or Wenro people were an Iroquoian indigenous nation of North America, originally residing in present-day western New York (and possibly fringe portions of northern & northwestern Pennsylvania), who were conquered by the Confeder ...

, Susquehannock and

Tionontate The Petun (from french: pétun), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati ("People Among the Hills/Mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the woodlands of eastern North America. Their last known traditional homeland was sou ...

; all traditional enemies of the

and who at one period also engaged in warfare and trade with one another. In Canada, the Wyandot sister nation is known as Huron-Wendat Nation. They have two

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

reserves within Wendake,

. Wyandot peoples also lived to the west and south in western Ontario and what became the United States, particularly around Michigan. Those in the US were removed to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans who held aboriginal title to their land as a sovereign ...

in the early 19th century, areas of Kansas and Oklahoma. Today, numerous Wyandot in the US are enrolled members of the

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

Wyandotte Nation The Wyandotte Nation is a Federally recognized tribes, federally recognized Native American tribe in northeastern Oklahoma. They are descendants of the Wyandot people, Wendat Confederacy and Native Americans with territory near Georgian Bay and ...

, which is headquartered in Wyandotte, Oklahoma. By the 15th century, the

pre-contact In the history of the Americas, the pre-Columbian era spans from the original settlement of North and South America in the Upper Paleolithic period through European colonization, which began with Christopher Columbus's voyage of 1492. Usually, th ...

Wyandot occupied the large area from the north shores of most of the present-day

, northward up to the southeastern shores of

. From this homeland, they encountered the French

explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...

Samuel de Champlain in 1615. They historically spoke the Wyandot language, a Northern

Iroquoian language The Iroquoian languages are a language family of indigenous peoples of North America. They are known for their general lack of labial consonants. The Iroquoian languages are polysynthetic and head-marking. As of 2020, all surviving Iroquoian ...

. They were believed to number more than 30,000 at the time of European contact in the 1610s to 1620s. After 1634 their numbers were drastically reduced by epidemics of new infectious diseases carried by Europeans, among whom these were endemic. The weakened Wyandotte were dispersed by the war in 1649 waged by the

Confederacy of Five Nations, or ''Haudenosaunee'', then based largely south of the Great Lakes in New York and

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. Archaeological evidence of this displacement has been uncovered at the Rock Island II Site in

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

. In the late 17th century, the Huron (Wyandot) Confederacy merged with the Iroquoian-speaking Tionontati nation (known as the ''Petun'' in French, also known as the Tobacco people for their chief commodity crop). They may originally have been a splinter colony of the Huron, to their west to form the historical Wyandot. Great Lakes Lake Huron Georgian Bay

The Huron Range spanned the region from downriver of the source of the St. Lawrence River, along with three-quarters of the northern shore of Lake Ontario, to the territory of the related

Neutral people The Neutral Confederacy (also Neutral Nation, Neutral people, or ''Attawandaron'' by neighbouring tribes) were an Iroquoian people who lived in what is now southwestern and south-central Ontario in Canada, North America. They lived throughout t ...

, extending north from both ends to wrap around Georgian Bay. This became their territorial center after their 1649 defeat and dispossession.

Etymology: Wandat--plus Erie, Huron

In the early 17th century, this Iroquoian people called themselves the Wendat, an

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

which means "Dwellers of the Peninsula" or "Islanders". The Wendat historic territory was bordered on three sides by the waters of

and

. Early French explorers referred to these natives as the Huron, either from the French ' ("ruffian", "rustic"), or from ' ("boar's head"). According to tradition, French sailors thought that the bristly hairstyle of Wendat warriors resembled that of a boar. French fur traders and explorers referred to them as the "" (good Iroquois). An alternate etymology from Russell Errett in 1885 is that the name is from the Iroquoian term ' ("Cat Nation"), a name also applied to the Erie nation. The French pronounced the name as ''Hirri-ronon'', and it gradually became known as ''Hirr-on'', and finally spelled in its present form, ''Huron''. William Martin Beauchamp concurred in 1907 that ''Huron'' was at least related to the Iroquoian root ' ("nation"). Other etymological possibilities are derived from the Algonquin words ' ("straight coast") or ' ("crooked coast"). In the late 17th century, elements of the Huron Confederacy and the Petun joined and became known as the Wyandot, a variation of Wendat.

History

Origin, and organization: before 1650

Early theories placed the Huron's origin in the

St. Lawrence Valley The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connecting ...

. Some historians or anthropologists proposed the people were located near the present-day site of

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

and former sites of the historic St. Lawrence Iroquoian peoples. Wendat is an Iroquoian language. Early 21st-century research in

linguistics Linguistics is the science, scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure ...

and

archaeology Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landsca ...

confirm a historical connection between the Huron and the St. Lawrence Iroquois. But all of the Iroquoian-speaking peoples shared some aspects of their culture, including the Erie people, any or all of the later Six Nations of the Iroquois, and the Susquehannock. In 1975 and 1978, archaeologists excavated a large 15th-century Huron village, now called the Draper Site, in Pickering, Ontario near

. In 2003 a larger village was discovered away in

Whitchurch-Stouffville Whitchurch-Stouffville ( 2021 population 49,864) is a town in the Greater Toronto Area of Ontario, Canada, approximately north of downtown Toronto, and north-east of Toronto Pearson International Airport. It is in area, and located in t ...

; it is known as the Mantle Site and was occupied from the late 16th to early 17th century. It has been renamed as the Jean-Baptiste Lainé Site, in honor of a decorated Wendat-Huron soldier of World War II. Each of the sites had been surrounded by a defensive wooden palisade, as was typical of Iroquoian cultures. A total of four Wendat ancestral village sites have been excavated in

. The large Mantle Site had more than 70 multi-family longhouses. Based on radiocarbon dating, it has been determined to have been occupied from 1587-1623. Its population was estimated at 1500-2000 persons. Canadian archaeologist James F. Pendergast states: The Wendat were not a tribe but a confederacy of four or more tribes who had mutually intelligible languages. According to tradition, this Wendat (or Huron) Confederacy was initiated by the ''Attignawantan'' ("People of the Bear") and the ''Attigneenongnahac'' ("People of the Cord"), who made their alliance in the 15th century. They were joined by the ''Arendarhonon'' ("People of the Rock") about 1590, and the ''Tahontaenrat'' ("People of the Deer") around 1610. A fifth group, the ''Ataronchronon'' ("People of the Marshes or Bog"), may not have attained full membership in the confederacy, and may have been a division of the Attignawantan. The largest Wendat settlement and capital of the confederacy, at least during the time of Jean de Brébeuf and the

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

was located at Ossossane. When

Gabriel Sagard Gabriel Sagard, O.M.R., ( ''fl.'' 1614–1636) was a French lay brother and Recollect friar, a reform branch of the Order of Friars Minor known for their strict poverty. He was among the first Christian missionaries to New France, and is nota ...

was among them however, Quienonascaran was the principal village of the Attignawantan, when Samuel de Champlain and Father

Joseph Le Caron Joseph Le Caron, O.M.R., (c. 1586 near Paris – March 29, 1632 in Gisors, France) was one of the four pioneer missionaries of Canada, (together with Father Denis Jamet, Father Jean Dolbeau, and Brother Pacifique du Plessis, all Recollect fria ...

were among the Hurons in 1615, a village called

Carhagouha The historic site Carhagouha (near Lafontaine, Ontario) is the Huron/Wendat name for the site of the first Catholic Mass celebrated in Ontario, Canada on August 12 (or June 24Elmvale, Ontario developed near that site. The Wendat called their traditional territory ''Wendake''. Closely related to the people of the Huron Confederacy were the Tionontate, an Iroquoian-speaking group whom the French called the ''

Petun The Petun (from french: pétun), also known as the Tobacco people or Tionontati ("People Among the Hills/Mountains"), were an indigenous Iroquoian people of the woodlands of eastern North America. Their last known traditional homeland was sou ...

'' (Tobacco), for their cultivation of that crop. They lived further south and were divided into two moitiés or groups: the Deer and the Wolves. Considering that they formed the nucleus of the tribe later known as the Wyandot, they too may have called themselves Wendat. There was ongoing hostilities between the Iroquoian Wyandot and the Haudenosaunee, another Iroquoian confederacy, but the Wyandot had good relations with the Algonquian.

Tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, i ...

(TB) was endemic among the Huron, aggravated by their close and smoky living conditions in the longhouses. Despite this, the Huron on the whole were healthy. The

Jesuits , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

wrote that the Huron effectively employed natural remedies and were "more healthy than we".

European contact and Wyandot dispersal

Le Grand Voyage du Pays des Hurons 1632 Gabriel Sagard

The earliest written accounts of the Huron were made by the French, who began exploring North America in the 16th century. News of the Europeans reached the Huron, particularly when Samuel de Champlain explored the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

in the early 17th century. Some Huron decided to go and meet the Europeans. Atironta, the principal headman of the Arendarhonon tribe, went to

and allied with the French in 1609. The ''

Jesuit Relations ''The Jesuit Relations'', also known as ''Relations des Jésuites de la Nouvelle-France'', are chronicles of the Jesuit missions in New France. The works were written annually and printed beginning in 1632 and ending in 1673. Originally written ...

'' of 1639 describes the Huron: The total population of the Huron at the time of European contact has been estimated at 20,000 to 40,000 people. From 1634 to 1640, the Huron were devastated by

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

n infectious diseases, such as measles and

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

, which were endemic among the Europeans. The peoples of North America had no acquired immunity to these diseases and suffered very high mortality rates.

Epidemiological studies Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population. It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evid ...

have shown that beginning in 1634, more European children emigrated with their families to the New World from cities in France, Britain, and the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, which had

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found else ...

smallpox. Historians believe the disease spread from the children to the Huron and other nations, often through contact with traders. So many Huron died that they abandoned many of their villages and agricultural areas. About half to two-thirds of the population died in the epidemics, decreasing the population to about 12,000. Such losses had a high social cost, devastating families and clans, and disrupting their society's structure and traditions. Before the French arrived, the Huron had already been in conflict with the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Five Nations) to the south. Once the European powers became involved in trading, the conflict among natives intensified significantly as they struggled to control the lucrative fur trade and satisfy European demand. The French allied with the Huron because they were the most advanced trading nation at the time. The Haudenosaunee tended to ally with the Dutch and later English, who settled at Albany and in the Mohawk Valley of their New York territory. Huronie

The introduction of European weapons and the fur trade increased competition and the severity of inter-tribal warfare. While the Haudenosaunee could easily obtain guns in exchange for furs from Dutch traders in New York, the Wendat were required to profess Christianity to obtain a gun from French traders in Canada. Therefore, they were unprepared, on March 16, 1649, when a Haudenosaunee war party of about 1000 entered Wendake and burned the Huron

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

villages of St. Ignace and St. Louis in present-day

Simcoe County Simcoe County is located in the central portion of Southern Ontario, Canada. The county is just north of the Greater Toronto Area, stretching from the shores of Lake Simcoe in the east to Georgian Bay in the west. Simcoe County forms part of the ...

, Ontario, killing about 300 people. The Iroquois also killed many of the Jesuit missionaries, who have since been honored as North American Martyrs. The surviving Jesuits burned the mission after abandoning it to prevent its capture. The extensive Iroquois attack shocked and frightened the surviving Huron. The Huron were geographically cut off from trade with the Dutch and British by the Iroquois Confederacy, who had access to free trade with all the Europeans in the area especially the Dutch. This forced them to continue to use lithic tools and weapons like clubs, bow & arrows, stone scrapers, and cutters. This is compared to the near-universal use of European iron tools by Iroquois groups in the area. Huron trade routes were consistently pillaged by raiders, and the lack of firearms discouraged the Huron's trade with the French, at least without French protection. As a result of their lack of exposure, the Huron did not have as much experience using firearms compared to their neighbors, putting them at a significant disadvantage when firearms were available to them, and when available, their possession of firearms made them a larger target for Iroquois aggression. By May 1, 1649, the Huron had burned 15 of their villages to prevent their stores from being taken and fled as refugees to surrounding tribes. About 10,000 fled to Gahoendoe (now also called Christian Island). Most who fled to the island starved over the winter, as it was an unproductive settlement and could not provide for them. After spending the bitter winter of 1649–50 on the island, surviving Huron relocated near

Quebec City Quebec City ( or ; french: Ville de Québec), officially Québec (), is the capital city of the Canadian province of Quebec. As of July 2021, the city had a population of 549,459, and the metropolitan area had a population of 839,311. It is t ...

, where they settled at Wendake. Absorbing other refugees, they became the Huron-Wendat Nation. Some Huron, along with the surviving Petun, whose villages the Iroquois attacked in the fall of 1649, fled to the upper Lake Michigan region, settling first at Green Bay, then at

Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...

Huron–British Treaty of 1760

On September 5, 1760, just prior to the capitulation of

to British forces, Brigadier-General James Murray signed a "Treaty of Peace and Friendship" with a Wyandot chief then residing in the settlement of Lorette. The text of the treaty reads as follows: The treaty recognized the Wyandot as a distinct nation and guaranteed that the British would not interfere with the tribe's internal affairs. In 1990, the Supreme Court of Canada, ruling in '' R v Sioui'', found that the Huron-British Treaty of 1760 was still valid and binding on the Canadian Crown. Accordingly, the exercise of Wyandot religion, customs, and trade benefit from continuing Canadian constitutional protection throughout the territory frequented by the tribe during the period the treaty was concluded.

Emergence of the Wyandot

In the late 17th century, elements of the Huron Confederacy and the Petun joined and became known as the Wyandot (or Wyandotte), a variation of Wendat. (This name is also related to the French transliteration of the Mohawk term for tobacco.) The western Wyandot re-formed in the area of

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

and southern

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

in the United States. In August 1782, the Wyandot joined forces with

Simon Girty Simon Girty (November 14, 1741 – February 18, 1818) was an American-born frontiersman, soldier and interpreter from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, who served as a liaison between the British and their Indian allies during the American Revolution. H ...

, a British soldier. On August 15 through 19, 1782, they unsuccessfully besieged Bryan Station in Kentucky (near present-day Lexington). They drew the Kentucky militia to Lower

Blue Licks The Battle of Blue Licks, fought on August 19, 1782, was one of the last battles of the American Revolutionary War. The battle occurred ten months after Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis, Lord Cornwallis's surrender at siege of Yorktow ...

, where the Wyandot defeated the militia led by

Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...

. The Wyandot gained the high ground and surrounded Boone's forces. Also in late 1782, the Wyandot joined forces with

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

Seneca Seneca may refer to: People and language * Seneca (name), a list of people with either the given name or surname * Seneca people, one of the six Iroquois tribes of North America ** Seneca language, the language of the Seneca people Places Extrat ...

, and Lenape in an unsuccessful siege of Fort Henry on the Ohio River. During the Northwest Indian War, the Wyandot fought alongside British allies against the United States. Under the leadership of Tarhe, they were signatories to the

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples ...

in 1795. In 1807, the Wyandot joined three other tribes – the Odawa, Potawatomi, and

Ojibwe people The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

– in signing the Treaty of Detroit, which resulted in a major land cession to the United States. This agreement between the tribes and the Michigan Territory (represented by

William Hull William Hull (June 24, 1753 – November 29, 1825) was an American soldier and politician. He fought in the American Revolutionary War and was appointed as Governor of Michigan Territory (1805–13), gaining large land cessions from several Am ...

) ceded to the United States a part of their territory in today's

Southeastern Michigan Southeast Michigan, also called southeastern Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan that is home to a majority of the state's businesses and industries as well as slightly over half of the state's population, most of whom are c ...

and a section of

near the Maumee River. The tribes were allowed to keep small pockets of land in the territory. The Treaty of Brownstown was signed by Governor Hull on November 7, 1807, and provided the indigenous nations with a payment of $10,000 in goods and money along with an annual payment of $2,400 in exchange for an area of land that included the southeastern one-quarter of the lower peninsula of Michigan. In 1819, the Methodist Church established a

to the Wyandot in Ohio, its first to Native Americans. In the 1840s, most of the surviving Wyandot people were displaced to

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

indigenous territory through the US federal policy of forced Indian removal. Using the funds they received for their lands in Ohio, the Wyandot purchased of land for $46,080 in what is now Wyandotte County, Kansas from the Delaware (Lenape). The Lenape had been grateful for the hospitality which the Wyandot had given them in Ohio, as the Lenape had been forced to move west under pressure from Anglo-European colonists. The Wyandot acquired a more-or-less square parcel north and west of the junction of the

Kansas River The Kansas River, also known as the Kaw, is a river in northeastern Kansas in the United States. It is the southwesternmost part of the Missouri River drainage, which is in turn the northwesternmost portion of the extensive Mississippi River dr ...

and the Missouri River. A United States government treaty granted the Wyandot Nation a small portion of fertile land located in an acute angle of the Missouri River and Kansas River, which they purchased from the Delaware in 1843. Also, the government granted 32 "floating sections", located on public lands west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it fl ...

. In June 1853, Big Turtle, a Wyandot chief, wrote to the ''Ohio State Journal'' regarding the current condition of his tribe. The Wyandot had received nearly $127,000 for their lands in 1845. Big Turtle noted that, in the spring of 1850, the tribal chiefs retroceded the granted land to the government. They invested $100,000 of the proceeds in 5% government stock. After removal to Kansas, the Wyandot had founded good libraries along with two thriving

Sabbath school Sabbath School is a function of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Seventh Day Baptist, Church of God (Seventh-Day), some other sabbatarian denominations, usually comprising a song service and Bible study lesson on the Sabbath. It is usually held b ...

s. They were in the process of organizing a division of the Sons of Temperance and maintained a sizable

temperance society The temperance movement is a social movement promoting temperance or complete abstinence from consumption of alcoholic beverages. Participants in the movement typically criticize alcohol intoxication or promote teetotalism, and its leaders empha ...

. Big Turtle commented on the agricultural yield, which produced an annual surplus for the market. He said that the thrift of the Wyandot exceeded that of any tribe north of the

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the O ...

line. According to his account, the Wyandot nation was "contented and happy", and enjoyed better living conditions in the Iindigenous territory than they had in Ohio. By 1855 the number of Wyandot had diminished to 600 or 700 people. On August 14 of that year, the Wyandot Nation elected a chief. The Kansas correspondent of the '' Missouri Republican'' reported that the judges of the election were three elders who were trusted by their peers. The Wyandot offered some of the floating sections of land for sale on the same day at $800. A section was composed of . Altogether were sold for $25,600. They were located in Kansas, Nebraska, and unspecified sites. Surveys were not required, with the title becoming complete at the time of location. The Wyandot played an important role in Kansas politics. On July 26, 1853, at a meeting at the Wyandot Council house in Kansas City, William Walker (Wyandot) was elected provisional governor of

Nebraska Territory The Territory of Nebraska was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 30, 1854, until March 1, 1867, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Nebraska. The Nebrask ...

, which included Kansas. He was elected by Wyandot, white traders, and outside interests who wished to preempt the federal government's organization of the territory and to benefit from the settlement of Kansas by white settlers. Walker and others promoted Kansas as the route for the proposed transcontinental railroad. Although the federal government did not recognize Walker's election, the political activity prompted the federal government to pass the Kansas–Nebraska Act to organize Kansas and Nebraska territories. An October 1855 article in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' reported that the Wyandot were free (that is, they had been accepted as US citizens) and without the restrictions placed on other tribes. Their leaders were unanimously

pro-slavery Proslavery is a support for slavery. It is found in the Bible, in the thought of ancient philosophers, in British writings and in American writings especially before the American Civil War but also later through 20th century. Arguments in favor o ...

, which meant 900 or 1,000 additional votes in opposition to the Free State movement of Kansas. In 1867, after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

, additional members were removed from the Midwest to

. Today more than 4,000 Wyandot can be found in eastern

and northeastern Oklahoma. The last of the original Wyandot of Ohio was Margaret "Grey Eyes" Solomon, known as "Mother Solomon". The daughter of Chief John Grey Eyes, she was born in 1816 and left Ohio in 1843. By 1889 she had returned to Ohio, when she was recorded as a spectator to the restoration of the Wyandot's Old Mission Church at Upper Sandusky. She died in Upper Sandusky on August 17, 1890. The last known full blood Wyandot to live in Ohio was Bill Moose (1836–1937). He gave a list of 12 individuals/families who remained behind removal. Draper Manuscripts also show that a few Shawnee, Mingo (mainly Seneca-Cayuga), and Lenape remained behind to. Also Mohawk and Brotherton (Narragansett) families as well. Some descendants of the Wyandot Nation of Anderdon live in Ohio and Michigan. Others live in Toronto and Brantford, Ontario, on the Six Nations Reserve. There they have intermarried with the Cayuga and other Indigenous peoples.

20th century to present

Archeological work in Canada and the United States has revealed the Wyandot's ancestral roots in what are now Canada and the United States. It also has provided evidence about the peoples' migrations and interactions with other indigenous groups, as well as the French and British colonists. Beginning in 1907, archaeological excavations were conducted at the Jesuit mission site near Georgian Bay. The mission has since been reconstructed as

Sainte-Marie among the Hurons Sainte-Marie among the Hurons (french: Sainte-Marie-au-pays-des-Hurons) was a French Jesuit settlement in Wendake, the land of the Wendat, near modern Midland, Ontario, from 1639 to 1649. It was the first European settlement in what is now the ...

, a

living museum A living museum, also known as a living history museum, is a type of museum which recreates historical settings to simulate a past time period, providing visitors with an experiential interpretation of history. It is a type of museum that recrea ...

to interpret Wyandot and Jesuit history; it is adjacent to the Martyrs' Shrine. This

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

shrine is consecrated to the ten North American martyrs. Since the mid-century, the Wyandot pursued claims in the United States because of having lost lands and not been fully compensated by the government. The US federal government set up the Indian Claims Court in the 1940s to address grievances filed by various Native American tribes. The court adjudicated claims, and Congress allocated $800 million to compensate tribes for losses due to treaties broken by the US government, or losses of land due to settlers who invaded their territories. The Wyandot filed a land claim for compensation due to the forced sale of their land in the Ohio region to the federal government under the 1830

Indian Removal Act The Indian Removal Act was signed into law on May 28, 1830, by United States President Andrew Jackson. The law, as described by Congress, provided "for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for ...

, which forced Native Americans to move west of the Mississippi River to an area designated as

. Originally the United States paid the Wyandot for their land at the rate of 75 cents per acre, but the land was worth $1.50 an acre. Although Congress intended to have a deadline by which indigenous claims had to be settled, Federal district courts continued to hear land claims and other cases for compensation. In February 1985, the US government finally agreed to pay descendants of the Wyandot $5.5 million to settle the tribe's outstanding claim. The decision settled claims related to the 143-year-old treaty. In 1842 the United States had forced the tribe to sell their Ohio lands for less-than-fair value. A spokesman for the Bureau of Indian Affairs said that the government would pay $1,600 each, in July 1985, to 3,600 people in Kansas and Oklahoma who could prove they were descendants of Wyandot affected by Indian Removal. During the 20th century, contemporary Wyandot continued to assert their culture and identity. On August 27, 1999, representatives of the far-flung Wyandot bands from

, Oklahoma and

gathered at their historic homeland in Midland, Ontario. There they formally re-established the Wendat Confederacy. There are also unrecognized tribes in Kansas and Michigan who identify as Wyandot descendants.

Contemporary Wyandot groups

Recognized Wyandot nations

In the United States, there is one federally recognized tribe: * The

is headquartered in Wyandotte, Oklahoma, and in 2011 had 4,957 enrolled members. In Canada, there is one Wyandot First Nation: * The Huron-Wendat Nation is based on two reserves in Wendake, now within the

limits, and it has approximately 4,410 members. They are primarily Catholic Church, Catholic in religion and speak French language, French as a first language. They have begun to promote the study and use of the Wyandot language among their children. For many decades, a leading source of income for the Wyandot of Quebec has been selling pottery, traditional-pattern snowshoes, summer and winter moccasins, and other locally produced crafts.

Unrecognized groups

Two unrecognized tribes in the United States identify as Wyandot: * Wyandot Nation of Anderdon, with headquarters in Trenton, Michigan, has 1,200 members * Wyandot Nation of Kansas, headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, has an estimated 400 members The Wyandot Nation of Kansas has had legal battles with the Wyandotte Nation over the fate of the Huron Cemetery in Kansas City, Kansas. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places because of its significance, the property has been contended by these groups for more than a century. Because of complications during the Indian removal process, the land was under the legal control of the federally recognized Wyandotte Nation of Oklahoma, made up of people who had left Kansas and their descendants. Contemporary representatives expressed interest in redeveloping the land occupied by the historic cemetery, to provide revenue to benefit the federally recognized tribe. Members of the local Kansas Wyandot, many of whom have family members buried at the historic cemetery, have strongly opposed most such proposals. The redevelopment would require reinterment of Wyandot and other Indian remains, including many of their direct ancestors. In 1998, the two groups finally agreed to preserve the cemetery in Kansas City for religious, cultural, and other uses appropriate to its sacred history and use.

Culture

Like other Iroquoian peoples, the Huron were sedentary farmers who supplemented their diet with hunting and fishing. The women cultivated several varieties of maize, squash, and beans (the "Three Sisters (agriculture), Three Sisters") as the mainstay of their diet, saving seeds of various types, and working to produce the best crops for different purposes. They also collected nuts, fruit, and wild root vegetables. Their preparation of this produce was supplemented primarily by fish caught by the men. The men also hunted deer and other animals available during the game seasons. Women did most of the crop planting, cultivation, and processing, although men helped in the heaviest work of clearing the fields or fortifying the village with palisades. Wood was gathered, usually done by the slash-and-burn method of clearing trees and brush. Men did most of the fishing and hunting and constructed the houses, canoes, and tools. Each family owned a plot of land which they farmed; this land reverted to the common property of the tribe when the family no longer used it. The Huron lived in villages spanning from one to ten acres (40,000 m²), most of which were strongly fortified and enclosed by high and strong palisades of wood in double and sometimes triple rows for defense against enemy attack. They lived in longhouses covered with tree bark similar to other Iroquoian cultural groups and could house twenty or more families in one dwelling, which were in different lengths, some being thirty or forty feet in length. A typical village or town had 900 to 1,600 people organized into 30 or 40 longhouses. Villages were moved about every ten years as the soil became less fertile and the nearby forest – from which they took firewood – grew thin. The Huron engaged in trade with neighboring tribes, notably for tobacco with the neighboring Petun and

nations. The Huron way of life is very gender-specific in practice. Men set off for war or hunted for game to feed their people. Women made the clothes, cooked and processed game, farmed, and raised the children. Pregnancy for women has its hardships. Women lock themselves in the woods inside a hut to keep pregnancy localized; traditionally only mothers and grandmothers see the women during labor to see how she is doing. Pregnant women deal with their pregnancy and birth with the help of other women while the men set off for war, hunt or go along their day as if nothing else is happening. The society members are more pleased with the birth of a girl than that of a boy, as they believe she will guarantee the future of the people by bearing children. Women are given more praise for giving birth to girls. Like other Iroquoian peoples, the Wyandot had a matrilineal kinship system, and children were considered born to the mother's family. They took their status from hers; her older brother would be more important to her sons than their biological father. As children grow older, they slowly grow into their roles within their society. Both genders learn from adults how to do certain things that later will help the tribe. For example, girls learn how to make doll clothing, which teaches them how to make real garments. Boys are given miniature bows so they may practice hunting very small game. Children at young ages are integrated into society evenly. They are given small tasks to follow based on their age. Boys practice hunting and follow men on some hunting events. Having boys follow the men into hunting events lets them learn firsthand how to hunt, receive tips on what to do while hunting, and gain experience for developing needed skills when they are older. Girls learn the same way. They watch the women conduct their daily routines and mimic them on a smaller scale. Having a little girl make the clothes for her doll in preparation for her to make clothing as a young woman and or married mother.

War

Samuel de Champlain made mortal enemies with the

when he fought alongside a war party of Hurons and Algonquins who demanded that he assist them in their ongoing conflict against their hated enemy. Souring a relationship between the French people that hadn't even started yet for nearly one hundred years; however, he was also trying to make peace between the two tribes (Huron and Iroquois). The Hurons as well as other Iroquoian peoples were known for the fierce ways in which they waged war against one another. Warfare between the Hurons and the

became so intense that women could not work in the fields to till their corn outside the defence of their palisades without fear of being clubbed to death on the spot and their scalping, scalps taken, which according to

, the Huron called Onontsira. Huron warriors also did the same to the

. When war was declared in the country, the headmen or captains went with their representatives to each of the villages to raise an army to set off for the enemies country to make an attack of their own or fortify their own village against a siege. A feast was held by the men of war who would lead the war party. Both Huron and

warriors during the early period of contact before the use of guns and iron arrow heads wore body armor made from wooden rods and slats which was worn on the back, legs and other parts of the body and used large shields almost as large as a man for extra protection. This armor proved effectual against stone tipped arrowheads, but not against iron tips. According to

, this armor was called Aquientor. Principal weapons were the Bow and arrow, Bow and the war club. Warriors on the warpath carried bags of roasted cornmeal while traveling. When an enemy was captured and taken prisoner, they were roughly tortured or “caressed” and forced to sing while bound for the entire journey before they were brought to a village and tortured and burned to death with fire over the course of two or three days. They either cut off, broke or wrenched away the three principal fingers of the hand used in drawing the bow and arrow, bow as the first torture. If the prisoner displayed courage through his torture, his heart was removed from his chest before he died and roasted by the warriors to acquire the mans courage. They sometimes made cuts in their own necks and bodies, then let the dead mans blood run into them, and often times would drink the prisoners blood. If a prisoner cried out, then his spirit was relinquished to his enemies and thus a victory was ensured the next time the captives nation would take up arms against the Hurons. A prisoner who died from torture was either consumed and eaten at a feast or dismembered and disemboweled; the intestine or bowels were given to the children or the dogs.

Explanatory footnotes

* Wendlas The Wyandot people or Wendat, also called the Hu-ron(on)= Nation and Hu-ron(on) Catti people

Citations

General references

* * * * * * Labelle, Kathryn Magee (2013). ''
dispersed but Not Destroyed: A History of the Seventeenth-Century Wendat People
'. UBC Press. * * * *

Etymology: Wandat--plus Erie, Huron

History

Origin, and organization: before 1650

European contact and Wyandot dispersal

Huron–British Treaty of 1760

Emergence of the Wyandot

20th century to present

Contemporary Wyandot groups

Recognized Wyandot nations

Unrecognized groups

Culture

War

See also

Explanatory footnotes

Citations

General references

Further reading

External links