Kichesipirini

The Kichesipirini (also Kichesippirini or Kitchesipirini ) are one of the First Nations in the Canadian province of Québec . They belong to the Algonquin group and originally lived on Morrison Island, the Isle-aux-Allumettes in the Ottawa River , and in the Pontiac Regional County Municipality east of it.

The name means "people from the great river". They called the Morrison Island Kitcisìpi

Today, most of the Kichesipirini live in nearby Pembroke .

history

Samuel de Champlain met the first representatives of the Algonquian tribes in Tadoussac , who, together with Innu and Etechemins ( Malecite ), celebrated a victory over the Iroquois . In that summer 1603 he met Chief Tessouat and visited his village in 1613. In 1620 he sent Jean Nicollet to the Kichesipirini to live among them. Around this time the tribe had succeeded in establishing a trade monopoly along the Ottawa, as their place of residence was strategically located in a very favorable location. With the loss of Québec to the British, they briefly lost their importance, but five years later the French fur traders dominated the region again. In 1636 the Kichesipirini tried to bring together a coalition with the Hurons , Algonquin and Nipissing against the Iroquois, but Nipissing and Bear Nation refused to support. Tessouat died in the spring of 1636.

Champlain still called the tribal group Algoumequins . Their language was a comprehensive trader's language, the name of which was eventually transferred to all the tribes of this language family. The residents of the time may have preferred to move to the hinterland after the Iroquois defeated the Hurons around 1650.

The Kichesipirini, like most Algonquian groups, followed seasonal migrations, so their material legacy was small and limited to things that were easy to transport. The family groups dispersed, so that only during the summer, when the tribe lived together, one could speak of a chieftainship across family boundaries. Except in the Ottawa Valley, the area was not very suitable for growing maize , pumpkin and beans . Plants were more used to manufacture building materials and tools, animals were essential as food. Bones, sinews, fur and antlers served as basic materials for tools and jewelry. Furs, in turn, were of particular interest to the French and English, with whom there was an intensive trade. The word atawe , to act, even gave the Ottawa their name. This trade was controlled by the strategically extremely favorable Kichesipirini on Morrison Island. As middlemen, they kept their independence.

The Kichesipirini are not recognized as an Indian tribe. Nevertheless, the Pembroke group is now called Kichesipirini Algonquin First Nation , its chief ( sachem ) is Paula LaPierre. Together with York University in Toronto , she developed a study and collected surveys of the elderly (Elders) in order to document the current conditions and the state of the relationships (lineages).