Algonquian and Great Lake Tribes
Algonquian is a language family, which is a group of related languages. An Algonquian tribe is simply a tribe that speaks an Algonquian language. In addition to New England and the Great Lakes area, Algonquian speakers are also found in other parts of the Northeast and the Plains area.
Location and Environment
The Algonquin people lived in the northeast in what is now New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. This land varied from ocean beaches and marshlands to forests, rivers, valleys, and rocky highlands. The Great Lakes tribes lived beside the Great Lakes. Some area tribes included the Sauk, Shawnee, and Winnebago.
Housing and Shelter
The Algonquins and Great Lakes tribes lived in villages that usually had eight or nine hundred people. In the village, they built dome-shaped wigwams from saplings covered with birch, chestnut, oak, or elm. They placed bark and animal hides over the roofs of their wigwams. A moose hide hung in the doorway, with a pole sewn to the bottom to hold the door down.
Inside the wigwam, cedar branches and rush mats covered the ground. Beds were made from spruce boughs covered with skins. The Algonquins sat on rolled-up skins and hides. Larger houses were also made that could accommodate more than one family. These houses were shaped like books standing on their open edges.
Many villages had tall, staked fences around them called palisades. When the people left their village on hunting trips, they put up cone-shaped wigwams made of wooden poles and bark.
Clothing and Adornments
The Algonquin people made most of their clothing from elk and deer hides. They decorated it with shells, stones, seeds, paint, dyes, and porcupine quills. The men wore breechcloths, and the women wore wraparound skirts. They also wore belts, leggings, and moccasins. In the winter, they made fur-lined shawls and wove turkey-down robes.