Illinois (people)

The Illinois Confederation, sometimes referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, was a group of 12–13 Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River valley of North America. The tribes were the Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria, Tamaroa, Moingwena, Michigamea, Chepoussa, Chinkoa, Coiracoentanon, Espeminkia, Maroa, and Tapouara. At the time of European contact in the 17th century, they were believed to number over 10,000 people. Most of the Illinois spoke various dialects of the Miami-Illinois language, one of the Algonquian languages family, with the known exception of the Siouan-speaking Michigamea. They occupied a broad inverted triangle from modern-day Iowa to near the shores of Lake Michigan in modern Chicago south to modern Arkansas. By the mid-18th century, only five principal tribes remained: the Cahokia, Kaskaskia, Michigamea, Peoria, and Tamaroa.

The Illinois River (Inoka Siipiiwi) (″the River of the Inoka, i.e. Illinois″) and the entire vast Illinois Country are named after the Illinois Confederacy.

The „Illinois/Inoca“ spoke together with the neighboring Miami (Myaamiaki) various dialects of the Miami-Illinois language, one of the Algonquian languages family.

Illinois was not the tribes' name for themselves, or autonym. Rather, Illinois is a French transliteration of an Old Ottawa term for them, or exonym: /ilinwe/ (pl. /iliniwek/). (The Ottawa were a neighboring tribe, whom the French met first.) Ilinwe is in turn an Odawa language rendering presumably borrowed from the Illinois or Old Miami verb /irenweewa/, iren(i)we·wa or ileenwewa (″he speaks the ordinary way″ or ″he speaks our language″, ″he speaks like us″), because they could easy understand each other. One other source is probably the Miami-Illinois word /irenawaki/, /ilenawaki/ (″the true (irena or ilena) ones (waki)″) or aleniaki (Sing: alenia - ″Person″, ″People″). Sometimes it is suggested that the tribal name comes from the term which the „Illinois/Inoca“ used to designate their language - ireniweeyoni or iilinwiyankwi (″Our language″, lit. ″the ordinary, real language″).

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