Chipewyan Indians

Tribal Headquarters
Northwest Territories

Alberta

Saskatchewan

Manitoba

History
According to Alexander Begg, the Chipewyan are Algonquin. In his 1894 book "History of the North-west," he wrote that the Saulteaux are a branch of the Chipewyan. The Saulteaux are Chippewa's. And Chipewyan is pronounced in at least two different ways. One is Chip-ah-wan and the other is Chip-e-why-an. Chip-wan is also probably used. Most historians have written that the origin of the name Chipewyan is Cree. Supposedly the Cree named the Chipewyan after the coats they wore.

These people are the northern most Ojibwa's. Samuel Hearne wrote about them in the late 18th century during his quest to find the frozen bay or Arctic Ocean. The Lake_Superior_Chippewa told the whites that their country's northern border was located at a mountain ridge between the frozen bay and Lake Superior. Most are fooled into accepting Hudson Bay as being the frozen bay. But Hudson Bay is ice free for at least four to five months each year. Hearne was searching for the frozen bay north of Alaska so to find the Northwest Passage. He knew the Chippewa's were very aware of the Arctic Ocean. He requested for the support of Matonabbe in finding the frozen bay. They did reach the McKenzie River.

Matonabbe was an important Chipewyan leader who guided Hearne into what is now southern Nunavut. Hearne wanted to find an overland route to the Arctic Ocean. The whites were already aware of the Beaufort Sea but it was frozen for far longer than they had anticipated. Matonabbe led scores of Chipewyan soldiers at the Bloody Falls Massacre which happened on July 17, 1771. They attacked a foreign Asian people. They were provoked. The Chipewyan probably considered the land their's.

It stayed relatively unchanched for the next 100 years. In 1774, the Hudson Bay Company commenced to build trading posts inland from Hudson Bay. Few Chipewyan actually actively participated in the fur trade. They knew better. What trade they conducted with the HBC was limited and HBC records indicate such. In what is now the Northwest Territories, HBC population stats for the native Indians in 1856, was over 10,000. For northern Alberta (north of Fort Edmonton) and northwestern Saskatchewan, it was only a couple of thousand.Further east at the same latitude and further north, the population estimates were near the same as that of northern Alberta and northwestern Saskatchewan.

Chipewyan soldiers possibly participated in the 1885 Northwest Rebellion. History portrays the Chipewyan who lived in the war zone as being considered renegades by Canada. For the most part the Chipewyan lived far from the whites. It continues to be that way now.