In the 1830s the federal government removed most from their lands east of the Mississippi River to Indian Territory - first in Kansas, Nebraska, and last to Oklahoma.

Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes, in addition to the Potawatomi in Oklahoma.

The Potawatomi name for themselves (autonym) is Bodéwadmi (without syncope: Bodéwademi; plural: Bodéwadmik), a cognate of the Ojibwe form.

The word comes from "to tend the hearth-fire," which is bodewadm (without syncope: bodewadem) in the Potawatomi language; the Ojibwe and Ottawa forms are boodawaadam and boodwaadam, respectively.

Alternatively, the Potawatomi call themselves Neshnabé (without syncope: Eneshenabé; plural: Neshnabék), a cognate of Ojibwe Anishinaabe(g), meaning "original people."

During the Beaver Wars they fled to the area around Green Bay to escape attacks by both the Iroquois and the Neutral Confederacy, who were seeking expanded hunting grounds.

Led by the chiefs Blackbird and Nuscotomeg (Mad Sturgeon), a force of about 500 warriors attacked the United States evacuation column leaving Fort Dearborn.

A Potawatomi chief named Mucktypoke (Makdébki, Black Partridge), counseled his fellow warriors against the attack.

By the end of the French period, the Potawatomi had begun a move to the Detroit area, leaving the large communities in Wisconsin.

[5] The Potawatomi nation continued to grow and expanded westward from Detroit, most notably in the development of the St. Joseph villages adjacent to the Miami in southwestern Michigan.

The removal period of Potawatomi history began with the treaties of the late 1820s, when the United States created reservations.

Billy Caldwell and Alexander Robinson negotiated for the United Nations of Chippewa, Ottawa and Potowatomi in the Second Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1829), by which they ceded most of their lands in Wisconsin and Michigan.

[citation needed] The final step followed the Treaty of Chicago, negotiated in 1833 for the tribes by Caldwell and Robinson.

Following the Treaty of Chicago in 1833, by which the tribe ceded its lands in Illinois, most of the Potawatomi people were removed to Indian Territory, west of the Mississippi River.

Many perished en route to new lands in the west on their journey through Iowa, Kansas, and Indian Territory, following what became known as the "Trail of Death".

Many places in the Midwest have names derived from the Potawatomi language, including Waukegan, Muskegon, Oconomowoc, Pottawattamie County, Kalamazoo, and Skokie.