Niúachi | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| fewer than 1,393[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Oklahoma, previouslyMissouri) | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerlyChiwere | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity (Protestant and Roman Catholic),Native American Church | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Otoe,Iowa, andHo-Chunk |
| People | Niútachi |
|---|---|
| Language | Niútachi ich'é, Hand Talk |
| Country | Niútachi Máyaⁿ |
TheMissouria orMissouri (in their own language,Niúachi, also spelledNiutachi) are aNative American tribe that originated in theGreat Lakes region of what is now the United States before European contact.[2] The tribe belongs to theChiwere division of theSiouan language family, together with theHo-Chunk,Winnebago,Iowa, andOtoe.[2]
Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the tribe lived in bands near the mouth of theGrand River and Missouri rivers at its confluence with theMissouri River, the mouth of the Missouri at its confluence with theMississippi River, and in present-daySaline County, Missouri. SinceIndian removal, they live primarily inOklahoma. They arefederally recognized as theOtoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, headquartered inRed Rock, Oklahoma.
French colonists adapted a form of theIllinois language-name for the people:Wimihsoorita, which translates as "One who has dugout canoes".[3] In their own Siouan language, the Missouri call themselvesNiúachi, also spelledNiutachi, meaning "People of the River Mouth."[4] TheOsage called them theWaçux¢a, and theQuapaw called them the Wa-ju'-xd¢ǎ.[5]
The state of Missouri and the Missouri River are named for the tribe.
The tribe'soral history tells that they once lived north of theGreat Lakes, where they were part of a larger tribe that included theHo-Chunk,Iowa, andOtoe.[2] They began migrating south in the 16th century.[2]
The beginning of the 17th century, the Missouria lived near the confluence of theGrand andMissouri rivers, where they settled through the 18th century. Later, their oral history 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. TheSauk andMeskwaki frequently attacked them. Their society was even more disrupted by the high fatalities from epidemics ofsmallpox and other Eurasianinfectious diseases that accompanied contact with Europeans. The French explorerJacques Marquette contacted the tribe in 1673 and paved the way for trade with the French.[6]
The Missouria migrated west of the Missouri River intoOsage territory. During this time, they acquired horses and huntedbison. The French explorerÉtienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont visited the people in the early 1720s. He married the daughter of a Missouria chief. They settled nearby, and Veniard created alliances with the people. He builtFort Orleans in 1723 as a trading post near present-dayBrunswick, Missouri. It was occupied until 1726.
In 1730, an attack by the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes nearly destroyed the Missouria, killing hundreds. Most survivors reunited with the Otoe, while some joined the Osage andKansa. 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 the Otoe-Missouria reservation, created on theBig Blue River at the Kansas-Nebraska border. The US pressured the two tribes into ceding more lands in 1876 and 1881.[6]
In 1880, the tribes split into two factions, the Coyote, who were traditionalists, and the Quakers, who wereassimilationists. The Coyote settled on the Iowa Reservation inIndian 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 theDawes Act, by 1907 members of the tribes were registered and allotted individual plots of land per household. The U.S. declared any excess communal land of the tribe as "surplus" and sold it to European-American settlers. The tribe merged with the Otoe tribe.[6]
TheCurtis Act disbanded tribal courts and governmental institutions to assimilate Native people into mainstream American society and prepare Indian Territory for statehood, but the tribe created their own court system in 1900. The Missouria were primarily farmers in the early 20th century. After oil was discovered on their lands in 1912, the U.S. government forced many of the tribe off their allotments.[6]
Today, Missouri are part of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians. They hold the Otoe-Missouria encampment each July and host social dances and ceremonies at the Otoe-Missouria Cultural Center[2] in Red Rock, Oklahoma.
According to the ethnographerJames 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 theOtoe; and 13 in 1910. Since then, their population numbers are combined with those of the Otoe.
| Historic and present tribes | |
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| Present languages | |
| Present reservations | |
| Present tribal colleges and universities | |
| Historic figures | |
| Historic events | |
| Historic reservations | |
| Historic communities | |
| Historic sacred places | |
| Other historic places | |
| Precontact peoples | |
| Precontact communities |
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| Other precontact places |
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| Other topics | |
