Saulteaux

Saulteaux Indians

They are a branch of the Ojibwa people (aka Algonquin, Anishinabe, Bungee, Chippewa, Little Shell, Ojibway, Ojibwe, Pembina, Saginaw, Sac and Sauk. Their land was located just east of Lake Superior when the English and French first met them in the early 17th century. It was the French who supposedly named these eastern Lake Superior Chippewa's Saulteaux. It means "People of the Rapids" in French.

Their original land was located at and in the immediate surrounding region of Sault Ste. Marie. Ojibwa authors from the 19th century wrote about Chippewa's from the west forcing their way to the east, after the whites invaded. According to George Copway, the Chippewa's from northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, settled the region where Sault Ste. Marie is. They then forced their way further east. Copway wrote that these Chippewa settlers colonized the region east of Lake Superior and east of Lake Huron, after 1634 and 1635.

Surprisingly, Copway wrote that Minnesota served as a starting off point. Copway learned that a general council was held where Minneapolis-St. Paul is (Falls of St. Anthony) to distribute land to the Ojibwa's. He also wrote that the Ojibwa east of Lake Superior considered the Minnesota region to be the land of their forefathers.