NATIVE PEOPLE The Indians.—Prior to the coming of the white man in 1673, the Illinois country had been occupied exclusively by Indian tribes, and the Indians were an important factor in the popula tion of the state until 1S33, 160 years after the explorations of Joliet and Marquette, when the Indians ceded their remaining lands to the United States. A primitive race, obtaining its livelihood by means of hunting, fishing, and crude agricultural pursuits, had maintained itself for unknown generations on the resources of the native forests and prairies of Illinois.
From the standpoint of the Indian, who depended mainly on the results of the chase for food and clothing, the Illinois country was fully populated by his people. As seen by the white man, who, for centuries, had obtained his food and clothing by careful cultivation of the soil and rearing of domesti cated animals, the Illinois country with its level surface, fertile soil, and favorable climate was capable of supporting many times the population found among the Indian inhabitants.
Density of Indian population.—The number of Indians living in North America, in the United States, or in Illinois prior to the settlement of the white man can be known only through the careful estimates of men who have made a special study of the problem. The following is from the American Radian by Elijah M. Haines: Careful investigation into this subject warrants the assertion that there was not, and has not been, since the time of the discovery of America, within what is now the territory of the United States, nor upon the whole North American continent, 2,000,000 Indian inhabitants.
Concerning the Indian population of New England Mr. W. A. Phelan finds that the total of the Indian population of New England, originally estimated at 70,000, is reduced by close investigation to, at the outside, 13,000 or 14,000.
The report of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, under date of Sep tember 28, 1886, shows the total population of Indians assigned to reserva tions, exclusive of those in Alaska, to be 247,261, the number of Indians in Alaska being estimated at 20,000. The number of Indians scattered
about the country of which the United States have no immediate care or jurisdiction, and of which no accurate census has been taken, will, perhaps, increase the number of Indians of all descriptions, at present inhabiting the United States, to 300,000. Add to this the Indians of the British possessions and the northern regions, and it will doubtless swell this number of Indians in North America to somewhere about 500,000.
The original estimate of 70.000 Indians for New England, regarded by later investigators as entirely too high, gives a density of but 1 person to the square mile, while the later estimate of 14,000 gives but 1 person to 5 square miles, or 25 square miles per family. New England and Illinois may be considered fairly comparable in their fitness for Indian occupa tion and development.
The Indian mode of life would not permit a dense popula tion. The contests among the tribes for possession of favorite hunting grounds were frequent and fierce. Tribal boundary lines were shifted back and forth generation after generation during historic times, and such changes had doubtless gone on during earlier centuries. It seems that no area of con siderable size in the United States ever supported an Indian population having a density as great as 1 person per square mile.
Indian population in Illinois.—In general, it is estimated that one-fourth of the Indians were counted as warriors. The number of warriors reported for any tribe of Indians was thus a basis for estimating Indian population. The following statements concerning Indian tribes which lived in Illinois arc based on Beckwith's The several Indian tribes, which from time to time occupied parts of Illinois, were the Miamis, Illinois, Winnebagoes, Sacs and Foxes, Rickapoos, l'otawatomies, and, at short intervals, the Shawnees. The Illinois Indians were composed of five subdivisions: Kaskaskias, Cahokias, Tamaroas, I'eorias, and Metchigamis.