Green Bay Area Chamber of Commerce Newcomers Website

Heritage

NATIVE AMERICAN INFLUENCE

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To gather a sense of the role Native American culture plays in our lives, just let the names of some of the communities and counties in Green Bay metropolitan area roll off your tongue: Kewaunee, Ashwaubenon, Oneida, Suamico and Oconto.

For thousands of years before French explorer Jean Nicolet entered the waters of Green Bay in 1634, Native Americans were the only inhabitants of today’s metropolitan area. Tightly knit clans of Menominee, Ho Chunk, Outagamie and other tribes occupied thousands of square miles, fishing, planting wild rice and vegetables, trapping and hunting.

In 1821, a delegation of the Oneida tribe of New York met with representatives from the Menominee to negotiate for fertile and open lands along the western Great Lakes in which to relocate. In an 1822 treaty, the Oneida purchased a large section of land in a territory that would become the state of Wisconsin.

Today, the peoples of the Oneida Nation are perhaps the highest profile Native American presence in the Green Bay area, due largely to their success in Native American gaming and hospitality, and other tribally owned businesses.