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Article: Sauk
- Article from:
- Dictionary of American History
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SAUK
SAUK.
The Sauks, or Sacs, originally spoke a Central Algonquian dialect and referred to themselves as
asa
•
ki
•
waki,
meaning "People of the Outlet." They left their central Michigan location for northern Wisconsin after Iroquois attacks in the mid-seventeenth century. The tribe first contacted the French in 1667 at Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior. Population estimates fluctuated between several thousand after contact and several hundred during the 1800s. Closely related to the Foxes culturally and allied with them politically between 1733 and 1850, the Sauks nonetheless always maintained a distinctive tribal identity.
The Native enemies of the Sauks included the ...