- Missouria
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Missouria Total population fewer than 1393[1] Regions with significant populations United States (Oklahoma, previously Missouri) Languages Religion Christianity (Protestant and Roman Catholic), Native American Church
Related ethnic groups The Missouria or Missouri (in their own language, Niúachi, also spelled Niutachi) are a Native American tribe that originated in the Great Lakes region of United States before European contact.[2] The tribe belongs to the Chiwere division of the Siouan language family, together with the Iowa and Otoe. Historically, the tribe lived near the mouth of the Grand River at its confluence with the Missouri River; the mouth of the Missouri at its confluence with the Mississippi River, and in Saline County, Missouri. Today they live primarily in Oklahoma.
Contents
Name
French colonists adapted a form of the Illinois language-name for the people: Wimihsoorita. Their name means "One who has dugout canoes".[3] In their own language, the Missouri call themselves Niúachi, also spelled Niutachi, meaning "People of the River Mouth."[4] The Osage called them the Waçux¢a, and the Quapaw called them the Wa-ju'-xd¢ǎ.[5]
The state of Missouri and the Missouri River are named for the tribe.
History
Missouri Indian on the left, painting by Karl Bodmer
Remains of the Missouria fort at Van Meter State ParkThe tribe's oral history says they once lived north of the Great Lakes. They began migrating south in the 16th century. By 1600, the Missouria lived near the confluence of the Grand and Missouri rivers, where they settled through the 18th century. Their tradition says that they split from the Otoe tribe, which belongs to the same Chiwere branch of the Siouan language, because of a love affair between the children of two tribal chiefs.[6]
The 17th century brought hardships to the Missouria. The Sauk and Fox frequently attacked them. Their society was more disrupted by the fatalities from epidemics of smallpox and other introduced Eurasian infectious diseases. The French explorer Jacques Marquette contacted the tribe in 1673 and paved the way for trade with the French.[6]
The Sauk staged a devastating attack on the Missouria in 1730, killing hundreds of people. The Missouria migrated west of the Missouri River into Osage territory. During this time, they acquired horses and hunted buffalo. The French explorer visited the people in the early 1720s and took as wife a daughter of a Missouri chief. They settled near and he created alliances with the people, building the Fort Orleans in 1723 for trading near present-day Brunswick, Missouri. It was occupied until 1726.
An attack by the Fox tribe nearly destroyed the Missouria. Most survivors reunited with the Otoe, while some joined the Osage and Kansa. After a smallpox outbreak in 1829, fewer than 100 Missouria survived, and they all joined the Otoe.[6]
They signed treaties with the US government in 1830 and 1854 to cede their lands in Missouri. They relocated to Otoe-Missouria reservation, created on the Big Blue River at the Kansas-Nebraska border. The two tribes were pressured into ceding more lands in 1876 and 1881.[6]
In 1880 the tribes split into two factions, the Coyote, traditionalists, and the Quakers, assimilationists. The Coyote settled onto the Iowa Reservation in Indian Territory. The Quakers negotiated a small separate reservation in Indian Territory. By 1890 most of the Coyote band rejoined the Quakers on their reservation. Under the Dawes Act, by 1907 members of the tribes were registered and allotted individual plots of land per household.[6]
Despite tribal courts in Oklahoma being disbanded under the Curtis Act, the tribe created their own court system in 1900. The Missouria were primarily farmers in the early 20th century. Oil was discovered on their lands in 1912, and the US government forced many of the tribe off their allotted land.[6]
Population
According to the enthnographer James Mooney, the population of the tribe was about 200 families in 1702; 1000 people in 1780; 300 in 1805; 80 in 1829, when they were living with the Otoe; and 13 in 1910; afterward, their populations numbers are combined with those of the Otoe.
Today
Currently the Missouria are members of the federally recognized tribe, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, based in Red Rock, Oklahoma.[1]
Notes
- ^ a b Oklahoma Indian Affairs. Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory. 2008: 24. (retrieved 16 July 2009)
- ^ May, John D. "Otoe-Missouria" Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. 2009 (22 February 2009)
- ^ McCafferty, Michael. 2004. "Correction: Etymology of Missouri", American Speech, 79.1:32
- ^ Pritzer, 337
- ^ Missouri Indian Tribes. Access Genealogy: Indian Tribal Records. (retrieved 23 February 2009)
- ^ a b c d e f Pritzer, 338
References
- Pritzer, Barry M. A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. ISBN 978-0195138771
External links
Native Americans in Nebraska Tribes Reservations Former reservations Figures Antonine Barada · Big Elk · Chief Blackbird · Joba Chamberlain · Larry EchoHawk · Logan Fontenelle · Francis La Flesche · Joseph La Flesche · Old Lady Grieves The Enemy · Petalesharo · Susan La Flesche Picotte · Red Cloud · Standing Bear · Susette LaFlesche Tibbles · Jim Thorpe · James Young Deer · Moses J. "Chief" Yellow HorsePlaces Blackbird Hill · Nanza · Genoa Indian Industrial School · Ton'wontongathon · Pahur · Ahkawitakol · Lalawakohtito · Pahuk · Pike-Pawnee Village SiteLanguages Events Battle of Ash Hollow · Massacre Canyon · Battle of War Bonnet Creek · Grattan massacre · Cheyenne WarCategories:- Siouan languages
- Great Lakes tribes
- Native American tribes in Missouri
- Native American tribes in Oklahoma
- Native American history of Nebraska
- Native American history of Michigan
- Algonquian ethnonyms
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