- Writer, Haruna Ibrahim Kakangi
- Name the person who wrote the story, BBC World Service
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Despite the development of the United States, one of the worst things that have made her a scar that will never be erased is the condition of the native tribes before the arrival of people from the European continent.
Now Europeans and other peoples have invaded the American land from all parts of the world, and if you want to know the origin of the people or tribes that were in the country before the arrival of the immigrants, you have to go to some areas on the other side of the country.
This is why I visited an area called Grand Portage, which borders Canada in the northern part of the state of Minnesota in the United States.
One of the Native American tribes is the one called Ojibwe or Chippewa and they call themselves Anishinaabe.
Anishinaabe means indigenous people. They are people who live near a lake called Gichigame, which is now known as ‘Lake Superior’ in English. It is the widest lake on earth.
It is a lake on the border between the United States and Canada.
Although the people of this tribe are spread all over the world, they now have an area that has been set aside for them, which is like an independent country, but in the state of Minnesota in the United States, the area is on the border with Canada. .
Marie Spry, 77 years old, who is a member of the Ojibwe tribe said, “Of course our country is independent, we manage our own affairs and we have our own courts.
“We don’t have our own police officers because we don’t have many people.”
Currently, the region has a total population of about 300 people, including adults and children of the tribe, and there are about 1,000 people of the tribe in the world, where some of them live in other countries and in some parts of the United States.
Marie is one of the six people who manage the affairs of the Grand Porte region. It can be said that she spent almost her entire life in this area of Grand Portage, except for her stay in Silver Bay, which is about 90 miles from her hometown.
She has been elected as one of the governors of the region since 2012, and the elections are held every four years.
As it has been in the history of the tribe, their life depends on the wealth they get from the lake, through fishing and transportation. Now they are the ones who use all the money obtained from the wealth of the area, especially what is related to tourism and casino gambling.
History of the Ojibwe tribe
The Ojibwe are the most powerful tribe among the communities that live on the shores of Lake Superior.
They live by fishing in Lake Superior, they hunt the beevar animal to use its skin for clothing and they eat wild rice.
In the 1700s, the lake was very important in world trade, and this made the community very valuable and valuable.
They were people who were skilled in hunting and had a good knowledge of the areas surrounding the lake.
In the area of transportation, they were skilled in making efficient and light canoes, which made the Ojibwe canoes capable of carrying large loads.
Although the Ojibwe people are not a large people, they are a strong and resilient people.
This is what made the whites hire them to work for them when they arrived in America, as they can do more work than the animals that are used to carry goods and work on the farm.
They carried goods from the highlands to the lake shore, to the trading centers established by Europeans, from the lake shore to the Pacific Ocean, which were used to transport goods from America to Europe.
The Europeans named the trail that the tribe followed when they carried the goods with the name ‘Grand Portage’.
The road goes through the mountains and along the streams to the eastern shore of Lake Gichigame.
At first, the Ojibwe people traded peacefully with the whites, but later things turned sour.
In the years 1782 to 1783, the people suffered from the smallpox disease which originated from the European continent, this destroyed many people in the region, and they think that this made many of them die due to the death of the old people who are they know their native language and culture.
Also, the prospect of independence has further thrown the region into uncertainty.
Original image, Grand Portage State Park
It was in the 19th century that the border between the United States and Canada, which was under British rule, was established.
This is why the tribe members are divided into two groups, some are in the United States while others are in the United States.
In the 1850s, another violent incident happened to the tribe after the creation of the state of Minnesota, where they alleged that their land was taken from them, and they were driven to a small area, which is now called Garnd Portage.
They alleged that European immigrants had abused them and tried to force them to embrace foreign cultures in the name of civilization.
Some of the tribes still continue to fish in Lake Superior and practice their culture to the fullest extent.
They said they still feel like citizens and are proud of their history.
