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Article: Illinois (Indians)
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
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ILLINOIS (INDIANS)
ILLINOIS (INDIANS).
The Illinois Indian tribe (they identified themselves as
inoca,
perhaps meaning "men"; the French later called them Illinois, and they are commonly referred to today as Illini) moved from Michigan to Illinois and Wisconsin by the 1630s. Illinois traders first contacted the French in 1666 at Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior. The Illinois and Miami, speaking central Algonquian dialects, separated shortly before Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet arrived in the Illinois country in 1673. With more than 13,000 members by the mid-1650s, the tribe divided into a dozen subtribes. Dramatic population losses resulted from war, disease, Christianity, ...