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Montagnais
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Map of northern North America showing the distribution of Indigenous peoples in the subarctic region, with labeled areas for groups such as Deg Xinag, Gwich'in, Tanaina, Slave, Dogrib, Chipewyan, Cree, Ojibwa, Innu, and others. Solid and dashed lines indicate cultural and drainage divisions across Alaska, Canada, and parts of the northern United States.
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Montagnais

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Map of northern North America showing the distribution of Indigenous peoples in the subarctic region, with labeled areas for groups such as Deg Xinag, Gwich'in, Tanaina, Slave, Dogrib, Chipewyan, Cree, Ojibwa, Innu, and others. Solid and dashed lines indicate cultural and drainage divisions across Alaska, Canada, and parts of the northern United States.
Distribution of American Subarctic cultures

The term "Montagnais" primarily refers to a group of Indigenous North American peoples who spoke Algonquian dialects and traditionally inhabited a forested region along the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. They are closely related to the Naskapi people, and both groups jointly adopted the name Innu, meaning "people," in the late 20th century.1

The Montagnais (southern Innu) lived in wickiups or wigwams and subsisted on moose, salmon, eel, and seal. They used canoes for summer travel and snowshoes and dogsleds in winter. Their religious beliefs were animistic, centered on supernatural power known as manitou, and involved nature and animal spirits. They traditionally organized into small, shifting bands of related families, with some formalization of hunting territories for the fur trade after European colonization.1

It is important to note that "Montagnais" can also refer to a dialect of Cree or, more broadly, to hill-dwelling peoples in Indochina, known as Montagnards, who have distinct cultures and histories.23

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3 Britannica Sources
  1. Innu
  2. Montagnais
  3. Montagnard

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