The Illinois Indians

Overview

The Illinois Indians, or Illini, were a group of tribes who lived in the area we now call Illinois. They were not a unified tribe, but rather were comprised of several tribes, "including but were not limited to the Cahokias, Kaskaskias, Michigameas, Moigwenas, Peorias, and Tamaroas." (Pritzker 2008: 1244) Also according to Pritzker, "roughly 10,000 Illinois lived south of the Michigan lake at the beginning of the 17th century." (Pritzker 2008: 1244) They lived as a hunter-gatherer society, where the men acted as hunters and warriors, and women acted as farmers and homemakers. They also had a third gender group called "Berdaches," which was comprised of men who dressed like women and had all the roles of women. each tribe had its own village or its own part of a larger multi-tribal village.

Culture

Despite being composed of several different tribes, the Illinois Indians shared many of the same cultural practices, most likely due to the tribe's close proximity to one another. One of the most unique activities they shared were their puberty rites. In said puberty rites, adolescents would attempt to attract a personal guardian spirit. The males would undertake a "vision quest" (Pritzker 2008: 1244) to attract their guardian spirit, whereas the females fast in a special lodge until they received their guardian spirit. They also practiced a form of cannibalism, wherein captured male warriors were burned and eaten.

Religion

They had a very simple animistic religion, with shamans and medicine people usually receiving their powers from powerful animal spirits, and overseeing religious ceremonies, which usually included smoking tobacco and dancing. Prior to contact with colonizers, The Illinois Indians believed in spirits called "manitous", and believe that they inhabited everything in the world. According to Caryne Eskridge, "Manitous possessed the same ontological makeup as humans, which defined their interaction with humans on a personal level" (Eskridge 2010: 21). This allowed each person to have a personal manitous, which helped to create their personal identity or purpose. According to Eskridge, "Individuals interacted with their manitous by performing their socially appropriate roles obligations which were often organized according to gender" (Eskridge 2010: 22). If these obligations were not done then it could result in illness or in extreme cases war. When this occurred a shaman would come to perform a ritual to help fix the problem. Rituals could range from dancing and prayers to animal sacrifice. (Edited by Jacob Reuter)

History

The Illinois Indians were first encountered by European explorers when Frenchmen exploring the Mississippi river area encountered them in 1673. They became allies of the French soon after and helped the French by "Protecting lines of communication and transportation and serving as a nexus for the fur trade." (Hauser 1976: 127) Ironically, at this time the Illinois were not in Illinois, as the Iroquois had "pushed them west of the Mississippi about 1660" (Pritzker 2008: 1245) It was all downhill from here, however, because in 1765 the french government relinquished control of the Mississippi area in the Louisiana Purchase. At this time the Illinois were no longer self-sufficient, as they had "become overly dependent on the French and their population had declined dramatically" (Hauser 1976: 127) The final impetuous that sparked a battle that all but destroyed the Illinois occurred in 1769 when a Illinois "said to be in the pay of Britain," (Pritzker 2008: 1245) killed chief Pontiac. The ensuing battle resulted in 90% casualties for the Illinois, a loss they never recovered from. The survivors of the group moved to Kansas in 1833, and lived with other tribes until the y bought land in Oklahoma 1867. In 1893, however, their lands were allotted, "and any remaining tribal lands were lost when Oklahoma became a state." (Pritzker 2008: 1245)

Learn more

Bilodeau, Christopher, Colonial Christianity and the Illinois Indians, The American Indian Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 3, Summer 2001 https://muse.jhu.edu/article/254

Hauser, Raymond E. The Illinois Indian Tribe: From Autonomy and Self-Sufficiency to Dependency and Depopulation, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 69, No. 2, May 1976

A short documentary of the Illinois Indians and the effects of colonization https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XVFXjoWTj2o

A timeline of the Illinois Indians https://www.legendsofamerica.com/illinois-tribe/

A video on an ancient Illini village found in central Illinois https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmaDxIZkJhg

A video talking about about the various tribes living in Illinois around the 1800s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pwFnL8tIRk4

Works Cited

Anon. 2021. “Great Lakes History: A General View.” Milwaukee Public Museum. Retrieved December 5, 2021 (https://www.mpm.edu/educators/wirp/history).

Eskridge, Caryne A. 2010. “Illinois Culture, Christianity and Intermarriage: Gender in Illinois Country, 1650-1763 .” dissertation.

Johansen, Bruce E. and Pritzker, Barry M. 2008, Encyclopedia of American Indian History Vol. IV, ABC-CLIO, inc., Santa Barbara, California

Hauser, Raymond E. The Illinois Indian Tribe: From Autonomy and Self-Sufficiency to Dependency and Depopulation, Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society, Vol. 69, No. 2, May 1976