Turtle Island (North America)

E660558

Turtle Island is an Indigenous name and worldview concept for the landmass known as North America, central to many First Nations’ creation stories and cultural identities.

All labels observed (2)

Label Occurrences
Turtle Island (North America) canonical 6
Turtle Island 4

How this entity was disambiguated

Statements (48)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Indigenous cosmological concept
mythological toponym
sacred geography concept
alsoKnownAs Turtle Island
associatedWith Anishinaabe creation story
Haudenosaunee creation story
Lenape creation story
centralTo many First Nations creation stories
many Indigenous origin stories
contrastsWith colonial name "North America"
embeddedIn Indigenous storytelling
Indigenous teachings about land stewardship
ceremonial practices
oral traditions
emphasizes Indigenous sovereignty
relationality with land
spiritual connection to territory
hasConceptualOriginIn pre-contact Indigenous cosmologies
hasCulturalSignificanceFor many First Nations peoples
many Indigenous peoples of North America
hasTheme cooperation among animals and beings
creation from water
responsibility to the land
sacredness of the land
invokedIn Indigenous rights movements
environmental justice movements led by Indigenous peoples
land back discourse
partOfWorldviewOf Algonquian-speaking peoples
linked to: Algonquian peoples

Anishinaabe peoples
linked to: Anishinabek

Haudenosaunee peoples
linked to: Haudenosaunee

Lenape peoples
linked to: Lenape

Ojibwe peoples
linked to: White Earth Ojibwe
recognizedIn Indigenous studies scholarship
decolonial theory
environmental humanities
refersTo North America
relatedConcept Indigenous land-based pedagogy
Mother Earth
land as relative
symbolizedBy a giant turtle
symbolizes the interconnection of all living beings
the landmass emerging on a turtle’s back
the relationship between land and water
transmittedThrough ceremony and ritual
generational oral history
usedAsNameFor Indigenous homelands in North America
North America in contemporary Indigenous discourse
the lands now called Canada and the United States

How these facts were elicited

Referenced by (10)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation isIndigenousTo Turtle Island (North America)
Nipissing First Nation isIndigenousTo Turtle Island (North America)
Biigtigong Nishnaabeg First Nation indigenousTo Turtle Island (North America)
Skarù∙ręʼ isIndigenousTo Turtle Island
linked to: Turtle Island (North America)
Turtle Island (North America) alsoKnownAs Turtle Island
linked to: Turtle Island (North America)
Kaswentha region Turtle Island (North America)
Mohawk traditional religion hasMythologicalFigure Turtle Island
linked to: Turtle Island (North America)
Mi'kmaq traditional territory partOf Turtle Island
linked to: Turtle Island (North America)
Nbissing indigenousTo Turtle Island (North America)