The name Ottawa comes from the Algonquin word "Adawe," meaning, "to trade." In their own language, the Ottawa call themselves "Ashinabe" or "people."

The Ottawa are members of the Three Fires Confederacy, the other two being the Ojibwe (Chippewa) and Potawatomi. The oral traditions of all three nations point back to a prehistoric common origin on the Atlantic coast of Canada and a subsequent migration via the St. Lawrence River Valley. Earliest recorded contact with Europeans occurred when Samuel de Champlain visited in 1615. According to French estimates, the Ottawa then numbered approximately 8000. They lived on Manitoulin Island, near the Ontario shore of Lake Huron.

The Ottawa were primarily hunters and gatherers. They gathered wild rice, netted fish, trapped smaller animals, and hunted large game such as moose, deer, and caribou. Most of all they were traders. They had been traders long before European contact, so it was only natural for them to become involved in the fur trade. It was the Ottawa who travelled far afield to exchange furs from various nations for European goods. When the Huron became suppliers of furs to the French, the Ottawa in turn became suppliers to the Huron. When the Iroquois all but wiped out the Huron, the Ottawa traded directly with the French, sailing fur-laden canoes in heavily armed convoys through hostile Iroquois territory down the Ottawa River to Montreal each summer. During the time of the French regime, the Ottawa expanded their land base considerably.

When the British defeated the French in Canada, trading arrangements were disrupted. The Ottawa under Pontiac briefly united several native nations against the British in 1763. However, this alliance eventually fell apart.

Later, the Ottawa sided with the British against the emerging United States. After the American War of Independence, the U.S. forced the Ottawa to sign several treaties, greatly reducing the size of their territory.

Today, there are approximately 12,000 Ottawa living in the United States. The government officially recognizes the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Band of Ottawa Indians, and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians; all are in Michigan. The total membership of the three tribes is approximately 6000 people. The Grand River Band of Ottawa, in Michigan with 6000 members of its own, is currently seeking official recognition from the government. There is also the 400-member Ottawa Tribe of Oklahoma, made up mostly of former Michigan Ottawa. In Canada, there are approximately 4000 Ottawa. Most of them live interspersed within native communities on Cockburn, Manitoulin, and Walpole Islands of the Great Lakes.