Native American and French Settlement Patterns - Northern ...

Obijwa/Chippewa.- Scholars have
reasonably ascertained that the Ojibwa
homeland was located from the east shore of
Georgian Bay, westward along the north shore
of Lake Huron to the northeast shore of Lake
Superior and into Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
At the time of the advent of the French they
numbered between 3,000-4,000 people living in
small groups of no more than several hundred
people. Since they did not practice they
hunted, fished and gathered. In the
twentieth century these people are known as
the Chippewa, Ojibwa, Mississauga, and
Saulteaux. Over the years they were linked
with the Odawa and Potawatomi and
periodically with the Huron.[5]
The Ojibwa living along the east shore
of Georgian Bay were first visited by Samuel
de Champlain in 1615 and about seven years
later Etienne Brule encountered other groups.