The Algonquins are indigenous inhabitants of North America who speak the Algonquin language, a divergent dialect of the Ojibwe language, which is part of the Algonquian language family. Culturally and linguistically, they are closely related to the Odawa and Ojibwe, with whom they form the larger Anicinape (Anishinaabe) grouping. The Algonquin people call themselves Omamiwinini (plural: Omamiwininiwak) or the more generalised name of Anicinape. Though known by several names in the past, the most common term "Algonquin" has been suggested to derive from the Maliseet word elakomkwik (IPA: [elae'gomogwik]): "they are our relatives/allies".

The Iroquois Confederacy drove the Algonquins from their lands. They were aided by having been traded arms by the Dutch, and later by the English. The Iroquois and the English defeated the French and Algonquins.  In 1623, after Sir David Kirke's occupation of New France demonstrated French colonial vulnerability, the French began to trade muskets to the Algonquins and their allies. French Jesuits began to seek Algonquin conversions to Roman Catholicism.  Through all of these years, the Iroquois never attacked the Kitcisipirinik fortress. But, in 1642, they made a surprise winter raid, attacking the Algonquin while most of the warriors were absent, and causing severe casualties. On March 6, 1647 (Ash Wednesday), a large Mohawk war party attacked the Kitcisipiriniwak living near Trois-Rivieres and almost exterminated them. The Kitcisipiriniwak were still at Morrison Island in 1650 and inspired respect with their 400 warriors. When the French retreated from the Huron country that year, Tessouat is reported to have had the superior of the Jesuit mission suspended by his armpits because he refused to offer him the customary presents for being allowed to travel through Algonquin territory.  Some joined the mission at Sillery, where they were mostly destroyed by an infectious disease epidemic by 1676. Encouraged by the French, others remained at Trois-Rivieres. Their settlement at nearby Pointe-du-Lac continued until about 1830. That year the last 14 families, numbering about 50, moved to Kanesatake near Oka. (The families who stayed in Trois Rivieres can be found in the Algonquin census of Trois Rivieres in the mid-19th century).  The Sulpician Mission of the Mountain was founded at Montreal in 1677, and some Algonquins settled there together with Iroquois converts. The mostly Mohawk community became known as Kahnawake. But many Algonquin maintained their attachment to the traditional territory and fur trading. Those who agreed to move to established reserves or joined other historical bands were federally "recognized". Many others who did not re-locate were later called "stragglers" in the Ottawa and Pontiac counties.

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