Shawano County

Shawano County, Wisconsin
Shawano County Courthouse, built mid-1950s
Location in the U.S. state of Wisconsin
Wisconsin's location in the U.S.
Founded	1861
Seat	Shawano
Largest city	Shawano
Area
• Total	909 sq mi (2,354 km2)
• Land	893 sq mi (2,313 km2)
• Water	16 sq mi (41 km2), 1.8%
Population
• (2010)	41,949
• Density	47/sq mi (18/km²)
Congressional district	8th
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.shawano.wi.us

Shawano County (originally Shawanaw County) is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2010 census, the population was 41,949. Its county seat is Shawano.

Shawano County is included in the Shawano, WI Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Green Bay-Shawano, WI Combined Statistical Area.

Its name is from a modified Ojibwa term meaning 'southern'; it was the southern boundary of the Ojibwa nation. A Menominee chief named Sawanoh led a band that lived in the area. Many citizens of Shawano believe the lake, county, and city (Town of Shawanaw founded 1853 and changed to Shawano in 1856), were named after Chief Sawanoh. A historical marker placed in 1958 near the lake along Highway 22 states the lake was named as the southern boundary of Chippewa (Ojibwe) territory.

Various historical recordings of the spelling of Shawano include: Sawanoh, Shawanaw, Sharuno, Shabin, Savannah, Savanah... which show the influence of French, German, and English translation (v's, w's, and b's, sounding very similar and thus being recorded incorrectly at times). Similar differences in spelling have been seen in the following versions: Mahican/Mahikan/Maikens tribe or Mohecan/Morhican/Mohican tribe, all referring to the same Algonquian-speaking people.

The federally recognized (made up of Algonquian-speaking Mahican and Lenape), whose ancestors traditionally lived in the East along the Hudson River Valley, is located in Shawano County. Their reservation encompasses the towns of Bartelme, and Red Springs.