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Nation / Tribe

Ottawa Tribe

The Ottawa, or Odawa, are an Anishinaabe people of the Great Lakes region, closely related to the Ojibwe and Potawatomi through the Council of Three Fires alliance. Their traditional territories encompassed the shores of Lakes Huron and Michigan and the waterways of present-day Michigan and Ontario. They were renowned as intertribal traders and middlemen in the Great Lakes fur trade. The Ottawa entered into treaties with the United States in the early 19th century regarding their Great Lakes territories. Today, several Ottawa tribal governments exist in Michigan and Oklahoma.

Portrait: McKenney & Hall, "Ka-na-pi-ma, an Ottawa Chief," 1842. Hand-colored lithograph.

12 treaties 4 mapped locations

Most Mentioned in Ottawa Tribe-tagged Entries

Territory & Encounter Locations

Pin color = Planning (1801–1804) Westward (1804–1805) Fort Clatsop (1805–1806) Return (1806) Post (1806–1812)

Master expedition route Approximate territory

Treaties (12)

Treaty with the Chippewa et al., 1795

Treaty with the Chippewa et al., 1805

Treaty with the Chippewa et al., 1816

Treaty with the Chippewa et al., 1833

Treaty with the Chippewa et al., 1846

Treaty with the Ottawa and Chippewa, 1836 (Treaty of Washington)

Treaty with the Ottawa of Blanchard’s Fork and Roche de Boeuf, 1831

Treaty with the Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, 1816

Treaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1807 (Detroit)

Treaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1816

Treaty with the Ottawa, etc., 1821 (Treaty of Chicago)

Treaty with the Sioux, etc., 1825

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