Dish With One Spoon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A Dish With One Spoon, also known as One Dish One Spoon, is a law used by Indigenous peoples of the Americas since at least 1142 CE[1] to describe an agreement for sharing hunting territory among two or more nations. People are all eating out of the single dish, that is, all hunting in the shared territory. One spoon signifies that all Peoples sharing the territory are expected to limit the game they take to leave enough for others, and for the continued abundance and viability of the hunting grounds into the future.[2][3]: 37 Sometimes the Indigenous language word is rendered in English as bowl or kettle rather than dish.[4]: 210
The phrase "Dish With One Spoon" is also used to denote the treaty or agreement itself. In particular, a treaty made between the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee nations at Montréal in 1701[5]: 614–621 as part of the Great Peace of Montreal is usually called the Dish With One Spoon treaty, and its associated wampum belt the Dish With One Spoon wampum.[4]: 217–218 The treaty territory includes part of the province of Ontario between the Great Lakes and extends east along the north shore of the St. Lawrence River up to the border of Quebec.[4]: 218 Some claim it also includes parts of New York and Michigan.[6]: 210