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List of traditional territories of the Indigenous peoples of North America

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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A traditional territory comprises all of the lands which an Indigenous nation ever claimed, not just the present-day Reservation. This article is about the name for the traditional territory (the land or country) itself, rather than the name of the nation/tribe/people. The distinction between nation and land is like the French people versus the modern nation-state of France, the Saami people versus their land of Sápmi (sometimes rendered as "Saamiland"), or the Māori people versus their country: Aotearoa. For example, Mi'kma'ki is the traditional territory or country of the Mi'kmaw Nation.

In English, the land of an indigenous nation was historically, and sometimes still is, referred to as a "country," such as "(the) Micmac country" (compare "Country" in an Australian context). Some Latinate forms exist in English such as "Iroquoia", "Huronia", "Apachería", and Comanchería".

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List of traditional territories

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More information Autonym(s) for the traditional territory, Conventional or historic English monikers for the traditional territory, with various attested spellings ...
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Criteria for inclusion

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For the purpose of this list, "nation" refers to the historic, whole national identities, rather than to the fragmented "reservation nations" or "bands". The whole nations are what John Beaucage, Grand Council Chief of the Anishinabek Nation, refers to as "true nations" in contrast with the fragmented "First Nations":

"First Nations must work towards the restoration of our own model of nationhood made up of our true nations. In essence, moving away from 633 First Nations—from Aamjiwnaang to Zhiibhaasing—to governance based on the nearly 60 indigenous nations, from the Abenaki Nation to the Wendat Nation and all those in between."

—John Beaucage, "A Vision of a New Assembly of First Nations" (emphasis added), 2009[500]

Or what the Government of Quebec calls "the 11 aboriginal nations of Québec" in contrast with their component "55 aboriginal communities".[501] And so the criteria for inclusion is not the same as what are named "Indian tribes" by the U.S. Federal Register and the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), or what are called "First Nations" by the Canadian government and Assembly of First Nations (AFN). It would be interesting to compile the names for the "band territories" of the 633 fragmented First Nations of the AFN, or the names of the "reservation territories" of the 632 fragmented Indian Nations of the NCAI, but that is beyond the scope of this article, except as side notes in the "further information" column.

So this list does not include the names for reservations or reserves, but only of the entire national homeland (or the homeland of a confederated identity such as the Haudenosaunee Confederacy or Colville tribes). For example, this list wouldn't give the Cherokee name for the Qualla Boundary reservation, but only the name for "the Cherokee country" as a whole. Ideally a single name could conceivably encompass not only the Contact-era ancestral territory, but also any area which at some time or another was conceived to be part of the national domain, such as post-Removal lands.

"Northeastern Oklahoma is the seat of government for the sovereign nation of the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. However, all of the lands where the Miami have lived over time are still referred to as "Myaamionki" (the Place of the Myaamia)."

—The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma.[502]

The names do not have to be from olden days. The names could be recently coined and still be included in this list.

Compiling a list such as this can be a difficult and controversial process, as it requires some discernment as to what are the "whole nations" — the "true nations" in Beaucage's words.

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Notes

  1. When the name of a traditional territory has several possible etymologies, only one or a few English translations are given here (for example Ojibwewaki = "Land of the Record Keepers" is only one of several possibilities). For more, see the Wikipedia article for each nation and the various folk etymologies and proposed etymologies for their national name.
  2. Though the column of conventional and historic English monikers is not meant to be a comprehensive list, and though some of the references are ephemeral, this column does give a snapshot of how the traditional territories have been spoken of in everyday English.

References

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