Illinois/Illiniwek comes from the Myaamia-Peewalia1 word irenweewa, which is a. compound word: iren. + (i)wee. +

The word Illinois is derived from the Native American word “iliniwok” or “illiniwek,” which literally means “best people”; it was used to refer to the 10 to 12 tribes found around the river. The entire state is named Best People, and that’s something of which to be proud!

The word Illinois comes from the French word meaning Illini or Land of Illini. It is an Algonquin word meaning Men or Warriors. Illinois was discovered in 1673, settled in 1720 and entered the Union on December 3, 1818.

French explorers learned the name from the Ojibwa and spelled it “Ilinois” or “Illinois.” The name “Illiniwek” also appears to have come indirectly from the Illinois word “irenweewa” by way of the Ojibwa Indians.

The most prominent tribes in Illinois were the Illinois, Miami, Winnebago, Fox and Sacs (Sauk), Kickapoo, and Pottawatomie tribes. The Illinois Native Americans were composed of five subdivisions including Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas, Peorias, and Metchigamis.

The most-accepted Chicago meaning is a word that comes from the Algonquin language: “shikaakwa,” meaning “striped skunk” or “onion.” According to early explorers, the lakes and streams around Chicago were full of wild onions, leeks, and ramps.

Even the buffalo herds then roamed over this land that would someday become Joliet and Will County. The land was so bountiful that other tribes traveled here in trading and raiding expeditions. They included the Iroquois, the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Cayugas and the Senecas.

They crossed Tennessee and Kentucky, about the 3rd of December, 1838, they arrived in Southern Illinois at Golconda. To reach Golconda from Kentucky, the Cherokee had to cross the Ohio River.

The Illiniwek were a loose confederation of tribes that included the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Moingwena, Peoria and Tamaroa. It is difficult to identify for certain which tribe was where in Southern Illinois.

Illinois, a confederation of small Algonquian-speaking North American Indian tribes originally spread over what are now southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois and parts of Missouri and Iowa. The best-known of the Illinois tribes were the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa.

Maize (corn) was the most important crop, but the Illinois also raised beans, squash, pumpkins, and watermelons. Women prepared their fields and began planting maize in early May. The first of two maize harvests came in late July, when ears were in the green stage.

Religion. Catholicism, Methodism, Midewiwin. The Potawatomi /pɒtəˈwɒtəmi/, also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the Great Plains, upper Mississippi River, and western Great Lakes region.

Today, the Forest County Potawatomi Community is thriving with an enrolled membership of about 1,400. Nearly half of the Tribe lives on the reservation, comprised of four communities in the southern section of Forest County, Wisconsin.

The Three Sisters are represented by corn, beans, and squash and they’re an important facet of Indigenous culture and foodways.