- This article is about the Native American tribe. For other uses see: Algonquin (disambiguation)
The
Algonquins (or
Algonkins) are an
aboriginal North American people speaking
Algonquin, an
Algonquian language. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the
Odawa and
Ojibwe, with whom they form the larger
Anicinàpe grouping. The Algonquin peoples call themselves either
Omàmiwinini (plural:
Omàmiwininiwak) or the more generalised name of
Anicinàpe. The tribe has also given its name to the much larger, heterogeneous group of Algonquian-speaking peoples who stretch from
Virginia to the
Rocky Mountains and north to
Hudson Bay. Most Algonquins, however, live in
Quebec; the nine Algonquian bands in that province and one in
Ontario have a combined population of about 11,000. (Popular usage reflects some confusion on the point, in that the term "Algonquin" is sometimes used—for example in
this entry in the
Catholic Encyclopedia—to refer to all Algonquian-speaking societies).