Native peoples lived in and traveled through what is now Michigan for nearly 10,000 years before European settlers arrived. By the 1600s, settlers began coming regularly to the region to travel, trade, and sometimes live. The boundaries of Michigan as we know them today were mostly established between 1807 and 1842, when six major treaties were made between Native nations and settlers. The name “Michigan” comes from the Anishinaabe word Mishigami, meaning “Giant Lake.”
Tribes across the Great Lakes region entered into treaties with the United States government in an effort to protect their ways of life. Despite these efforts, treaty negotiations were often marked by pressure from federal officials and increasing tension, especially after the Indian Removal Act of 1830. Treaties favored the U.S. government and were often broken soon after being signed. While some Native nations retained limited hunting and fishing rights, others were forcibly removed from their lands in the Michigan Territory and relocated west of the Mississippi River. Between 1807 and 1855, the Anishinaabe alone signed at least ten treaties, most of which were never honored, as state and federal leaders pursued policies of removal and assimilation to make way for settlers and Michigan’s path to statehood.
Learn more about the 5 major treaties here:
- 1807: Treaty of Detroit
- 1819: Treaty of Saginaw
- 1821: Treaty of Chicago
- 1836: Treaty of Washington
- Treaty and document scan
- National Park Service entry from Eric Hemenway, Little Traverse Bay Band of Odawa Indians
- 1842: Treaty of LaPointe
Learn more about Michigan History and its relationship to treaties: