Indigenous Nations and Populations

The Anishinaabe

The Anishinaabe were one of the main groupings of nations of indigenous peoples which inhabited the Great Lakes region along with Canada. The tribes which make up this nation include the Potowatomi, Odawa, and Ojibwe. The Anishinaabe referred to their homeland as Anishinaabawaki and were key partners to the French in the fur trade. Though, even partners would be a stronger term in describing the relationship in the 18th century, the French were at the whims of the far more influential Anishinaabe tribes in the early 18th century.2 By the 1730's the Anishinaabe Ojibwe, Odawa, and Potowatomi peoples were expanding their influence through "kinship relations" with other groups. These clans were central to relationships between tribes as well as family units.3 The Anishinaabeg people were considered to be a people on the move and had engaged in several wars with indigenous groups predating the arrival of the French to the region. These conflicts included the Iroquois or Haudenosaunee people. Relations between Anishinaabeg Algonquin speaking peoples stretched as far south as the Mississippi to as far north as the St. Lawrence river.4 One way in which the Anishinaabeg were so successful in this manner was through a ceremony known as the "feast of the dead". In the Spring the Anishinaabeg would host "foreigners" in a weeks- long ceremony exchanging gifts, engaging in dance, and arranging marriages and adoptions between tribes.5 .

Indigenous Slavery in Early Detroit

Fort Detroit was surrounded by indigenous settlements, first invited to settle by Antoine Cadillac back in 1701. This meant that the residents of Detroit were often of mixed-race family units. The French were often willing collaborators with Anishinaabe tribes, often engaging in commerce through the fur trade. Travelling traders would often arrive in the town for some time and then depart once more to ensure the flow of furs continued. Even though with the arrival of the British, relations became tense and ultimately culminated in violence in 1763, trade and Indigenous culture continued to thrive in the region. Maintaining peace with the local indigenous groups surrounding fort Detroit became such a clear priority for the British that in 1779 an "Indian Council House" would be built in order for the British to have formal discussions with Indigenous political representatives. Part of the reality for Indigenous residents in colonial Detroit was also often enslavement. Under both the French and British regimes, enslaved laborers were used to process and pack furs as Indigenous slaves were often readily available to them. The capitulation of Montreal in 1760 even specifically mentions that "Panis" or Indian slaves shall be continued property of the surrendered French, that they are continued to be "brought up in the Roman religion".6  It is ikely that Europeans viewed this form of slavery specifically as an attempt to encourage assimilation and in the case of the French specifically, religious conversion.

Euro-Indigenous Community Within Detroit

Detroit being in contact as much as it was with local native nations was bound to develop its own unique community as it developed as a fur trading outpost. Detroit was far removed from any major European population center and instead developed its own identity out in the frontier. As historian Tiya Miles explains, "Merchant-class women in Euro-Native mixed race families would have been similarly appareled as they stood on the shop floors with their husbands as they co-managed the affairs of the fur trade".7 These Euro-Indigenous family groups acted as cultural fusions in fashion, responsibilities, and even language. Algonquian and Iroquian dialects were common to hear mixed with the French of European settlers. These families seemed to have a far different dynamic on the frontier when compared with the European family unit based in a city such as Montreal. This meant that Detroit was developing it's own unique identity hundreds of years before the city would be defined by its auto industry. There also stood a free community of Indigenous residents of the town. These individuals were of several nations and tribes including the Iroquois and the Metis. 

² McDonnell, M. A. (2016). Masters of empire: Great lakes Indians and the Making of America. Hill and Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

³ Ibid 1607

⁴ Ibid 1614

⁵ Ibid 1624

⁶ Ibid 1614

⁶ Articles of capitulation, Montreal, 1760. https://www.solon.org/Constitutions/Canada/English/PreConfederation/cap_montreal.html.

⁷ Miles, Tiya. The dawn of detroit: A chronicle of slavery and freedom in the city of the Straits. New York: The New Press, 2019.