The Ottawa have lived in many locations, but have always considered Manitoulin Island as their original homeland.  This island was on the route between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic coast.  In 1615, their villages were concentrated on this island, but they began relocating to Mackinac during the 1630's.  Iroquois attacks forced them to move to Green Bay (Wisconsin) in 1651, and then to the south shore of Lake Superior in 1658.  As the French and their allies drove the Iroquois from the Great Lakes during the 1690's, some of the Ottawa returned to their island.

They later started spreading into northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.  By 1846, they had merged with the Potawatomi and moved with them to Kansas.  However, a very large portion of the Ottawa's chose to stay and still live in the northern part of lower Michigan and southern Ontario.

Some people do not think of the Ottawa as an important tribe.  There were never very many of them, and their culture and language was almost identical to the more numerous Potawatomi.  Between 1615 and 1763, however, the Ottawa were one of the most important tribes in North America.  But their homeland was far away from the British colonies, and by the time the Americans reached their valleys their time had passed.  The Ottawa had been the dominant tribe at Detroit.  Among the most loyal of the French allies, their warriors raided the pro-British Cherokee and Chickasaw to the south.  During this time, other Detroit tribes tried to challenge the Ottawa domination.  The Ottawa leader at this time was a young war chief named Pontiac.  Pontiac wanted a return to older times, and trading with the French without British interference.  He secretly sent messengers to other tribes in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes area.  In 1763, he held a war council on the Aux Ecorces River.  He addressed the representatives urging them to rid themselves of "these English, these dogs dressed in red."

The uprisings began and quickly captured eight of the twelve British forts west of the Appalachians.  He kept the other forts surrounded and cut off.  When Pontiac's rebellion began, most British soldiers on this side of the Atlantic were fighting in the West Indies.  It took time before they could be sent west against the uprising.  When they did arrive, their response was quick and decisive.  Pontiac returned to the upper Maumee and pondered his next move.  In 1776, he met with William Johnson in New York to sign another treaty promising to never fight the British again.  The failure of his rebellion and his giving in to the British did severe damage to his reputation.  Bitter arguments led to his leaving the valley.  In 1769, Pontiac went to St. Louis to see his old friend St. Ange.  To celebrate the occasion, he wore the French uniform which had been given him in 1757.  After a few days, he decided to visit the mixed French and Illinois village of Cahokia across the Mississippi.  St. Ange warned him this could be dangerous, but Pontiac was both fearless and known to enjoy a drink.  He took a few bodyguards, and went to Cahokia.  After a considerable amount of drinking, he got into an argument with a young Peoria warrior named Pina.  Pontiac left and walked out to the street, but Pina followed and tomahawked him from behind.  He then stabbed him for good measure and left him dead in the muddy street.

Pontiac was buried with honors at St. Ange's fort on a hill overlooking St. Louis.  The death of Pontiac was the end of Ottawa power and influence.  Shortly after, a smallpox epidemic broke out which decimated their villages in northern Michigan.

The Ohio Ottawa's ceded their Ohio lands in exchange for two reservations.  After passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830, pressure grew to remove the tribes still east of the Mississippi.  The Blackhawk War also hastened the departure of the remaining tribes.  Two treaties signed by the Michigan Ottawa resulted in their being declared legally dead.  In 1836, they ceded their remaining land in upper and lower Michigan for a series of reserves.  In 1905, the Michigan Ottawa successfully sued the United States in the Court of Claims for redress for fraud and treaty violations, but when the Indian Reorganization Act was passed by Congress in 1934, the Michigan Ottawa were not allowed to organize under its provisions.  Twenty years later, the government tried to terminate their tribal status, and if this had succeeded there would have been 24 treaties between the US and a tribe which did not exist.  However, it did not happen and Pontiac's people are hidden, but very much alive.