The Ojibwe are known for their birch bark canoes, birch bark scrolls, mining and trade in copper, as well as their cultivation of wild rice and maple syrup.
How did the Ojibwe harvest wild rice?
The technique used for knocking was simple: the sticks were held in each hand, and the harvester reached to the side and pulled in as many stalks as he or she could over the edge of the canoe and knocked the kernels into the bottom of the canoe.
Is wild rice a real rice?
Despite its name, wild rice is not rice at all. Although it is the seed of an aquatic grass like rice, it’s not directly related to it. This grass grows naturally in shallow freshwater marshes and along the shores of streams and lakes. It’s only referred to as rice because it looks and cooks like other types of rice.
What kind of food did the Ojibwa Indians eat?
Their main source of food is the sea or ocean that is why they were very much acquainted with fishing. Some Ojibwa, mostly men had used a long pole with a very sharp and edgy point in catching fishes. Sometimes they used the nets that were made by the Ojibwa women when they were settling at the maple syrup camp.
Why was fishing so important to the Ojibwe?
Women would create nets to pull fish in with. Fishing was important enough in Ojibwe life that they even set up designated conservationists to monitor streams and fishing spots to make sure that the populations didn’t get too low.
What was the decline of the Ojibwe people?
By the mid-19th century, the Ojibwe had become alarmed at the decline of both game and fur-bearing animals in their country and correctly identified that decline as resulting from the growing number of Euro-Americans. Particularly damaging were those commercial interests that built roads and homesteads and began logging activities.
Where did the Ojibwe live during the fur trade?
During the fur trade period of the 17th and early 18th centuries, the Ojibwe allied with the Dakota, agreeing that the Ojibwe would provide the Dakota with trade goods, and the Ojibwe could live west towards the Mississippi River.