Words of the Week 29/2015

Cree Indians

The Cree (historical autonym: nēhiraw; French: cri) are one of the largest groups of Native Canadians/Native Americans in North America, with over 200,000 members living in Canada. The major proportion of Cree in Canada live north and west of Lake Superior, in Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Northwest Territories. About 38,000 live in Quebec.

In the United States, this Algonquian-speaking people historically lived from Lake Superior westward. Today, they live mostly in Montana, where they share a reservation with the Ojibwe (Chippewa).

The documented westward migration over time has been strongly associated with their roles as traders and hunters in the North American Fur Trade.