History indicates that the Algonquians were a large group of North American natives composed of several tribes. The Algonquian occupied extensive areas in North America, extending from the Atlantic coast towards the Great Lakes Region (White 21). They occupied fertile lands along River St Lawrence and around all the Great Lakes. Although the group was composed of several tribes with varying tongues, their languages were related. Historians use the term “Algonquian” in reference to all tribal groups of Algonquian that spoke some related languages. Arguably, the Algonquians’ desire to own guns, clothing and utensils and the European scramble for America led to the establishment of a “middle ground” because each group needed each other’s help. Historically, most of the Algonquian tribes settled along rivers and lakes because their chief sources of food were hunting, gathering and fishing. However, southern groups also carried out farming, mostly cultivating native crops such as squash, beans and corn. Some groups such as the Ojibiwe also cultivated other crops such as wild rice to supplement their diets (White 26). History also shows that most of the Algonquian groups did not settle in a permanent position. Instead, they shifted with seasons due to seasonal availability of aquatic foods, wild animals and crops. However, they would recombine and settle as a large community at other times, especially in winter seasons. In addition, some framing groups in the south, especially those in New England, developed a culture of shift farming, which involved cultivating land for two years before relocating their villages to new and fertile land for agriculture. Middle ground is a term used by historians in reference to a state in which two different communities, with different traditions, languages and cultures, advance into a given geographical location and arrive at a common conception of suitable behaviours that benefit them in a certain way (White 32). A good example of how middle ground is created is presented by the interaction between the French and the Algonquian tribes in the Great lakes Region and along the Atlantic Coast. According to White (50), the first French traders and settlers arrived at the coast in the 16 th century (White 52). Because the two groups were trading partners, their boundaries increasingly “melted away” as each accepted the other in its territories. White (51) argues that it is not easy to determine whether the process of interaction between the two groups caused the dominance of any of the two cultures. For instance, it is not correct to argue that the native Algonquians became “Frenchfied” or the French settlers “became natives”. However, the historian argues that both processes might have taken place as each group increasingly accepted the other (White 50). The creation of the Middle Ground best explains the process through which the two groups came to co-exist with each other. According to White, a “middle ground” was established for a number of reasons. For instance, both the Algonquian and Europeans were looking for land to sustain their needs. It began with a massive immigration of native Algonquian from the north as they flee from the Iroquois in the south. This event took place between 1640s and 1660s. In fact, history shows that the Iroquois w