Essay on Algonquin Tribe

📌Category: United States, World
📌Words: 835
📌Pages: 4
📌Published: 04 May 2021

The Algonquin tribe is a different tribe from any other tribe. They had to hunt for food and use animals a canoe as their transportation. Algonquins live in dome-shaped houses in a village. They even have their own set of clothing styles, men, and women wear the same shoes but different shirts and pants. Depending on your gender determines what your “role” will be. Both genders are responsible for their own “roles.

HABITAT

Algonquin people live in southern Quebec and Eastern Ontario Canada. They live in dome-shaped houses made out of trees and bark.  First, they would start by using the tree as the poles to hold up the house and second they would use the bark as the walls and the roof. They were mainly surrounded by trees and lakes, so they couldn’t go do much. 

FOOD

Algonquins didn’t really have much food to pick from. But they were hunting people. They would hunt for most of their main meals that was mainly deer, moose, and other small game, and would go fishing to catch fish. Not all but some Algonquins would even grow corn and squash in small gardens, but most of them only got foods like that when trading with a neighboring tribe. They also would even make their own maple syrup from tree sap. 

CLOTHING

Algonquin women would wear long dresses that would come with removable sleeves. The men would wear breechcloths and leggings. Both genders would wear moccasins on their feet and in bad weather they would wear cloaks. Some Algonquins even started to adapt to the Europeans costumes, they would wear cloth blouses and jackets, even decorating them with fancy beadwork. If the Algonquin was a warrior, they would shave their heads into a mohawk style, and they would use grease to stiffen the hair so that it would stick up. If they did not shave their head then both men and women would wear their hair in long braids, some men even wore a porcupine roach with a feather in it. Algonquins painted their face and arms with bright colors, they would use different patterns for war paint and festive decoration. The men would also wear a tattoo. 

ROLES

Algonquins all had their own type of “roles” they had to go by. The women had their own, men had their own, and even the children had their own. But they had some “roles” that they would share. The women of the family had many jobs to do. They would have to gather many wild plants, collect different sources of food, and collect medicinal herbs. The women would also even hunt for small animals like fish, they even had to make baskets and other types of containers. One of the women's biggest jobs were cleaning homes and tools. The men of the family would mainly hunt. They had to hunt for big and small game. They used many methods like trapping, snaring, stalking, and even tracking the animals. They even made frames such as wigwam frames and snowshoe frames. The men also even made their own set of tools. The children of the family was mainly taught about discipline and would help out whenever they could. They would learn daily skills from their mother and even their grandmother.

The children would watch the elderly and help them out when they could. The girls would learn from the women, while the boys would learn from the men. From the ages 7-14, they would be taught the skills and activities of adults. The main responsibility of a child was to listen to everything you were taught. The men and women had social roles which they would share. They taught any things to the children and cared for them too, they even took care of the elderly. They also passed on beliefs and values and made spirituality a part of everything.

TRANSPORTATION

The Algonquin Indian tribe was famous for their birchbark canoes.  Canoeing is still very popular in the Algonquin nation today. Over land they use dogs as pack animals when they are not canoeing. The algonquins did not use horses because there was no horses. (There were no horses in North America until the colonists had brought them over from Europe) The algonquins would use sleds and snowshoes to help them travel in the winter. 

WEAPONS

Algonquin Indians used bows and arrows or spears for hunting. Algonquin hunters would also build their own traps to catch deer and other game of animals. The algonquin fishermen used pronged spears to stab fish from their canoes or through holes in the ice, instead of fishing with fishing hooks. The algonquin warriors would fight each other with war clubs, spears, or tomahawks. 

ARTS AND CRAFTS

Algonquin artist are mostly known for their beadwork and basketry arts. Like the other eastern American Indians, Algonquins are also crafted wampum out of white and purple shell beads. The wampum beads were traded as a kind of currency, but they were also more culturally important as an art material, The designs, and pictures on wampum belts also told a story or represented a person’s family.

Work Cited

“Algonquin Indian Fact Sheet.” Facts for Kids: Algonquin Indians (Algonquins), www.bigorrin.org/algonquin_kids.htm.

Kidport.com. (2019). Algonquin (Algonkin) Tribe. [online] Available at: http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/UsaHistory/NativeAmericans/Algonquin.htm 

Legendsofamerica.com. (2019). Algonquian Peoples – Legends of America. [online] Available at: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/algonquian-peoples/ 

“The Algonquians.” The Algonquians, www.u-s-history.com/pages/h560.html.

The History Junkie. (2019). Algonquin Tribe Facts, History, and Culture - The History Junkie. [online] Available at: https://thehistoryjunkie.com/algonquin-tribe-facts/

 

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