Category: Cree

Categories: First Nations | Tribes | Algonquian Peoples


Language Algonquian

The Cree (Cree: Nēhiyaw; French: Cri) are one of the largest groups of First Nations in North America, with over 200,000 members living in Canada. The Cree- French Explorers called them 'Cristaux', an Ojibwa word meaning 'band south of James Bay,' which soon shortened to 'Cri.' (You will see this as last names in scrip files- this means that their surname is not "Cri", they are Cree peoples). The Cree have many localized names for themselves. Peoples included the Plains Cree, Woods Cree and Swampy Cree.

Due to the many dialects of the Cree language, there is no modern collective autonym. The Plains Cree and Attikamekw refer to themselves using modern forms of the historical nêhiraw, namely nêhiyaw and nêhirawisiw, respectively. Moose Cree, East Cree, Naskapi, and Montagnais all refer to themselves using modern dialectal forms of the historical iriniw, meaning 'man.' Moose Cree use the form ililiw, coastal East Cree and Naskapi use iyiyiw (variously spelled iiyiyiu, iiyiyuu, and eeyou), inland East Cree use iyiniw (variously spelled iinuu and eenou), and Montagnais use ilnu and innu, depending on dialect. The Cree use "Cree," "cri," "Naskapi, or "montagnais" to refer to their people only when speaking French or English.

Location Settlement: Plains Cree lived in Alberta and Saskatchewan; Woods Cree in Saskatchewan and Manitoba; and Swampy Cree in Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec.

The major proportion of Cree in Canada live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. About 38,000 live in Quebec. In the United States, this Algonquian-speaking people historically lived from Lake Superior westward. Today, they live mostly in Montana, where they share a reservation with the Ojibwe (Chippewa).

The documented westward migration over time has been strongly associated with their roles as traders and hunters in the North American fur trade

The Cree are generally divided into eight groups based on dialect and region. These divisions do not necessarily represent ethnic sub-divisions within the larger ethnic group:

  • Moose Cree – Moose Factory in the Cochrane District, Ontario; this group lives on Moose Factory Island, near the mouth of the Moose River, at the southern end of James Bay.
  • Swampy Cree – this group lives in northern Manitoba along the Hudson Bay coast and adjacent inland areas to the south and west, and in Ontario along the coast of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Some also in eastern Saskatchewan around Cumberland House. It has 4,500 speakers.
  • James Bay Cree – Grand Council of the Crees; approximately 18,000 Cree (Iyyu in Coastal Dialect / Iynu in Inland Dialect) of Eeyou Istchee and Nunavik regions of Northern Quebec.
  • Woods Cree - group in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan.
  • Plains Cree - 34,000 people in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and Montana.
  • Naskapi and Montagnais (together known as the Innu) - are inhabitants of an area they refer to as Nitassinan. Their territories comprise most of the present-day political jurisdictions of eastern Quebec and Labrador. Their cultures are differentiated, as some of the Naskapi are still caribou hunters and more nomadic than many of the Montagnais, but the Montagnais have more settlements. The total population of the two groups in 2003 was about 18,000 people, of which 15,000 lived in Quebec. Their dialects and languages are the most distinct from the Cree spoken by the groups west of Lake Superior.
  • Atikamekw - are inhabitants of the area they refer to as Nitaskinan (Our Land), in the upper St. Maurice River valley of Quebec (about 300 km north of Montreal). Their population is around 4,500.

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Viewing 116 profiles starting with L.
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L

1790 Red River Settlement, Manitoba - 1850
abt 1808 Northwest Territories - abt 1830
abt 1787 Red River Settlement, Rupert's Land - 08 May 1867
abt 1800 Red River Settlement (Prince Rupert\'s Land) - 1909
1798 Saint Boniface, Manitoba, Canada - 1866
abt 1805 St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - abt Sep 1883 photo
abt 1790 Red River Settlement, Manitoba, Canada - 11 Oct 1877
abt 1902 Lac la Nonne, Lac Ste. Anne County, Alberta, Canada - 1984 photo
abt 1804 Edmonton, Alberta, Canada - 1879

M

1771 York Factory, MB, Canada - 20 Jun 1826
27 Dec 1842 Owen Sound, Grey, Canada West - 15 Jan 1917 photo
abt 1764 Dunlichty, Scotland - 16 Oct 1825 photo
02 Jul 1945 Kitchenuhmaykoosib, Kitchenuhmaykoosib Aaki 84 (Big Trout Lake), Kenora, Ontario, Canada - 30 Nov 2019
abt 20 Nov 1846 St. Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada - 11 Jan 1902
1887 Swift Current, Swift Current No. 137, Saskatchewan, Canada - 11 Jul 1941 photo
11 May 1824 Brandon, Manitoba, Canada - 29 Nov 1884
1799 Prince Rupert's Land - abt 1817
10 Aug 1792 Albany Factory - 09 Dec 1877 photo
21 Jul 1820 Brandon House, Rupert's Land - bef 1919
1793 Fort-Rupert, Northwest Territories, Canada - 10 Mar 1877
abt 1871 photo
abt 1780 - aft 1830
03 Sep 1878 St. Albert, Alberta, Canada - 13 Mar 1950
29 Oct 1867 Alberta, Canada - 17 Dec 1945
bef 1768 Rupert's Land, Hudson's Bay - 1798 photo
28 Dec 1874 North West Territories, Canada
24 Aug 1881 Vermilion, North West Territories, Canada - 10 Dec 1950
1897 North West Territories, Canada
08 Dec 1883 Fort Vermilion, Alberta - 21 Feb 1972
24 May 1872 North West Territories, Canada - 11 Jan 1888
27 May 1879 Prince Albert, Saskatchewan, Canada - 11 Nov 1964
31 Aug 1885 North West Territories, Canada
30 Jun 1876 Northwest Territories, British North America - 18 Jan 1957
abt 1780 Near Pembina, North Dakota, Minnesota, Northwest Territories - abt 1880
abt 1790 Fort des Praries (Ft. Edmonton) - 1846
1787 Red River, Manitoba, Canada - 01 Apr 1857
1794 Norway House, Manitoba
abt 1790 Severn, Rupert's Land - 23 Oct 1839

N

abt 1766 Rupert's Land, Churchill, Manitoba, Canada - 1857 photo
abt 1845 photo

N cont.

abt 1873 Slave Lake, Alberta, Canada - 26 Dec 1918 photo
Living Niviaxie photo

O

1770 Rupert's Land
bef 1777 Rupert's Land - abt Oct 1834 photo
1758 Northwest Territories, Canada - 1828

P

1813 North West Territories - 23 Sep 1854
abt 1822 St Boniface Parish, Red River Settlement - abt 1880
1860 - 1874
01 Dec 1854 Red River Settlement - 25 Dec 1896
1864
abt 1810 Northwest Territories, Canada - 11 Oct 1890
1815 Red River Settlement, British Colonial America - 06 Oct 1876
05 Jul 1866 Red River Settlement - 02 Nov 1951
1811 Rupert's Land - 14 Apr 1893
18 Feb 1854 Red River, Manitoba - 19 Sep 1888
abt 1773 - 1810
15 Sep 1912 Grand Rapids, Manitoba, Canada - 1988
abt 1918
abt 1907 Manitoba, Canada
abt 1909
abt 05 Oct 1878 Grand Rapids, Northwest Territories, Canada - 1965 photo
abt 1920
abt 1917

R

abt 06 Aug 1834 Cumberland House, Rupert's Land, British North America - abt 13 Nov 1914

S

30 Apr 1956 - 29 Mar 2016
25 Dec 1933 Whitefish Lake, Saskatchewan, Canada - 24 Nov 2020
04 Apr 1959 - 06 Oct 2020 photo
1783 St. Johns, Rupert's Land - 04 Apr 1863
1750 Swampy Cree Indian Settlement, York Factory, Rupert's Land - abt 1825
abt 1842 Galloon, Ireland - 1902
abt 1796 Rupertsland, Manitoba, Canada
1796 Nestoowyan, York House, Manitoba, Canada - 1866
abt 1802 Oxford House, Manitoba, Canada - abt 1878
abt 1798 Ruperts Land, Northern Manitoba - abt 1881
abt 1846 St. Peter's, Assiniboia Manitoba - abt 30 Aug 1913
abt 1808 Ruperts Land, Manitoba, Canada - abt 1871
30 Mar 1818 Oxford House, Manitoba, Canada - 30 Dec 1879
abt 1811 Oxford House, Manitoba - abt 26 Mar 1856 photo
abt 1800 Oxford House, Rupert's Land - abt 1894

S cont.

abt 1806 Northwest Territories, Canada - abt 1814
07 Nov 1871 St. Peter's, Manitoba, Canada - 25 Mar 1929
15 Dec 1805 Oxford House, Manitoba, Canada - 30 Jan 1892 photo
abt Jun 1791 Oxford House, Manitoba, Canada - abt 01 Jul 1848
1794 Ruperts Land, Manitoba, Canada - 12 Oct 1868 photo
01 Sep 1785 Île-à-la-Crosse - abt 07 May 1857
abt 1787 Île-à-la-Crosse
abt 1789 Île-à-la-Crosse - 1846
abt 1811 Northern Gut, Newfoundland - 11 Sep 1877

T

abt 1792 York Factory, Rupert's Land, British North America - 15 Nov 1844
07 Jul 1815 Terrebonne, Lower Canada - aft 10 Feb 1857
04 Mar 1829 Williamstown, Glengarry, Upper Canada - aft 10 Feb 1857
25 Apr 1817 Williamstown, Charlottenburg, Glengarry, Upper Canada - aft 10 Feb 1857
Mar 1806 Reed Lake House, Manitoba - 22 Feb 1814
10 Jun 1801 Rocky Mountain House - aft 10 Feb 1857
13 Jul 1824 Williamstown, Glengarry, Upper Canada - 27 Aug 1824
30 Jul 1813 Terrebonne, Lower Canada - 23 Oct 1855
25 Aug 1808 Boggy Hall, Saskatchewan - 11 Jan 1814
28 Mar 1811 Fort Augustus, Alberta, Canada - aft 10 Feb 1857
02 Apr 1827 Williamstown, Glengarry, Upper Canada - abt 1906
05 Mar 1804 Peace River Forks, Alberta - aft 10 Feb 1857
10 Jul 1822 Williamstown, Glengarry, Upper Canada - aft 10 Feb 1857
09 Nov 1819 Williamstown, Charlottenburg, Glengarry, Upper Canada - aft 10 Feb 1857
1779 Rupert's Land - 25 May 1874

U

1898 photo
abt 1800 - abt 1825
1744
abt 1780 Rupert's Land, Canada - bef 1830

W

1810 Northwest Territories - 28 Jan 1894
1814 Fort Gibraltar, Red River Settlement, Rupert's Land - 1890
02 Dec 1872 Moose Mountain, Assinibione, Saskatchewan
abt 1752 Rupert's Land, Hudson's Bay - abt 1832
22 Aug 1913 Fisher River 44, Manitoba, Canada - Jul 1999
abt 1850 Carlton, Rupert's Land, British North America

Y

abt 1900 Ontario, Canada
abt 1939 Fort Hope, Kenora, Ontario, Canada - 20 Mar 2010
abt 1899 Manitoba, Canada - 25 Aug 1970
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