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"Potawatomi" Traditional Cache

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Hidden : 5/25/2012
Difficulty:
1.5 out of 5
Terrain:
2 out of 5

Size: Size:   regular (regular)

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Geocache Description:

The cache is located in the Algonquin Nature Trail.
It is advised to wear lots of bug spray, as while placing it, i was attacked by multiple flying pest.

The Potawatomi are a Native American people of the upper Mississippi River region. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a member of the Algonquian family. In the Potawatomi language, they generally call themselves Bodéwadmi, a name that means "keepers of the fire" and that was applied to them by their Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) cousins. They originally called themselves Neshnabé, a cognate of the word Anishinaabe. The Potawatomi were part of a long-term alliance, called the Council of Three Fires, with the Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Ottawa. In the Council of Three Fires, the Potawatomi were considered the "youngest brother."

Name
The English "Potawatomi" is derived from the Ojibwe Boodawaadamii(g) (syncoped in the Ottawa as Boodwadmii(g)). The Potawatomi's name for themselves (autonym) is Bodéwadmi (without syncope: Bodéwademi; plural: Bodéwadmik), a cognate of the Ojibwe form. Their name means “those who keep/tend the hearth-fire,” which refers to the hearth of the Council of Three Fires. The word comes from “to keep/tend the hearth-fire,” which is bodewadm (without syncope: bodewadem) in the Potawatomi language; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are boodawaadam and boodwaadam, respectively. Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé; plural: Neshnabék), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe(g), meaning “Original People.”

History
The Potawatomi are first mentioned in French records, which suggest that in the early 17th century, they lived in what is now southwestern Michigan. During the Beaver Wars, they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Nation, who were seeking expanded hunting grounds. As an important part of Tecumseh's Confederacy, Potawatomi warriors took part in Tecumseh's War, the War of 1812 and the Peoria War. Their allegiance switched repeatedly between the British and the Americans as power relations shifted between the nations. At the time of the War of 1812, a band of Potawatomi inhabited the area near Fort Dearborn, in the current location of Chicago. Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn; they killed a majority of the civilians and 54 of Captain Nathan Heald's force, and wounded many others. This attack is referred to as the Battle of Fort Dearborn. A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counseled against the attack and later saved some of the civilian captives who were being ransomed by the Potawatomi. The Prairie Band Potawatomi purchased 1,280 acres (5.2 km²) of land near Shabbona, Illinois, in rural DeKalb County. The Mesquaki, another Algonquian people, also bought land in Illinois, one of the only states that allowed Indians to purchase land. Another band of the Potawatomi had land in Crown Point, Indiana.

Today, the Potawatomi are a thriving community. They provide health services and education to the people, with revenues generated from the tribe's gaming and other business operation.

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