The Otoe (

Chiwere Chiwere (also called Iowa-Otoe-Missouria or Báxoje-Jíwere-Ñút'achi) is a Siouan language originally spoken by the Missouria, Otoe, and Iowa peoples, who originated in the Great Lakes region but later moved throughout the Midwest and plains. ...

: Jiwére) are a Native American people of the

Midwestern United States The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of the United States. I ...

. The Otoe language,

, is part of the

Siouan Siouan or Siouan–Catawban is a language family of North America that is located primarily in the Great Plains, Ohio and Mississippi valleys and southeastern North America with a few other languages in the east. Name Authors who call the enti ...

family and closely related to that of the related

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to th ...

Missouria 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 what is now the United States before European contact.May, John D"Otoe-Missouria"''Oklaho ...

, and Ho-Chunk tribes. Historically, the Otoe tribe lived as a semi-nomadic people on the Central Plains along the bank of the Missouri River in

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to th ...

, and

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. They lived in elm-bark lodges while they farmed, and used

tipi A tipi , often called a lodge in English, is a conical tent, historically made of animal hides or pelts, and in more recent generations of canvas, stretched on a framework of wooden poles. The word is Siouan languages, Siouan, and in use in Dakot ...

s while traveling, like many other Plains tribes. They often left their villages to hunt buffalo. In the early 19th century, many of their villages were destroyed due to warfare with other tribes. European-American encroachment and disease also played a role in their decline. Today, Otoe people belong to the

federally recognized This is a list of federally recognized tribes in the contiguous United States of America. There are also federally recognized Alaska Native tribes. , 574 Indian tribes were legally recognized by the Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) of the United ...

tribe, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, headquartered in

Red Rock, Oklahoma Red Rock ( iow, Chína Ino Šúje pronounced , meaning "Rock Red town") is a town in northern Noble County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 283 at the 2010 census, a decline from 293 at the 2000 census. The headquarters of the Otoe-M ...

History

The Otoe were once part of the Ho-Chunk and

-speaking tribes of the Western

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five lakes ...

and Upper Midwest. Around the 16th century, successive groups split off and migrated west and south. These became distinct tribes, the Otoe, the

, and the

Ioway The Iowa, also known as Ioway, and the Bah-Kho-Je or Báxoje (English: grey snow; Chiwere: Báxoje ich'é) are a Native American Siouan people. Today, they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and ...

. The Otoe settled in the lower Nemaha River valley. They adopted the

horse culture A horse culture is a tribal group or community whose day-to-day life revolves around the herding and breeding of horses. Beginning with the domestication of the horse on the steppes of Eurasia, the horse transformed each society that adopted its ...

and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the

Great Plains The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, an ...

, making the

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...

central to their diet and culture.

European contact

When the

Lewis and Clark Expedition The Lewis and Clark Expedition, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps of Discovery was a select gro ...

headed up the Missouri River to explore the new territory the Otoe were the first tribe they encountered. They met at a place on the west bank of the Missouri River that would become known as the Council Bluff. Like other

tribes, the Otoe periodically left their villages to hunt for bison. Between 1817 and 1841, the Otoe lived around the mouth of the

Platte River The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itself ...

in present-day

Otoe County, Nebraska Otoe County is a county in the U.S. state of Nebraska. As of the 2010 United States Census, the population was 15,740. Its county seat is Nebraska City. The county was formed in 1854, and was named tor the Otoe Indian tribe. In the Nebraska li ...

still bears their name. During this time, the Missouria families that survived European diseases and encroachment rejoined them to form the Otoe-Missouri tribe. They gathered with others to trade for European goods. In the 1830s, European-American traders tried to influence tribal members through alcohol. As their dependence on alcohol grew, the men no longer hunted, but resorted to looting vacant

Pawnee Pawnee initially refers to a Native American people and its language: * Pawnee people * Pawnee language Pawnee is also the name of several places in the United States: * Pawnee, Illinois * Pawnee, Kansas * Pawnee, Missouri * Pawnee City, Nebraska * ...

villages while the people were out hunting. Christian missionaries built a mission there. In 1854 the Otoe-Missouria ceded most of their lands south of the Platte River in eastern Nebraska to the U.S. by treaty. They retained the

Oto Reservation The Otoe Reservation was a twenty-four square-mile section straddling the Kansas-Nebraska state line. The majority of the reservation sat in modern-day southeast Jefferson County, Nebraska. As early as 1834, the Oto relinquished land to the gover ...

along the Big Blue River on the present Kansas-Nebraska border. They struggled to adapt to reservation life.

Move to Indian Territory

During the 1870s, the tribe split into two factions. The Coyote band favored an immediate move to

Indian Territory The Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States Government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United St ...

, where they believed they could better perpetuate their traditional tribal life outside the influence of the whites. The

Quaker Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...

band favored remaining on the Big Blue River land. They were willing to sell the western half of the reservation to whites to gain income for a tribal

annuity In investment, an annuity is a series of payments made at equal intervals.Kellison, Stephen G. (1970). ''The Theory of Interest''. Homewood, Illinois: Richard D. Irwin, Inc. p. 45 Examples of annuities are regular deposits to a savings account, mo ...

. By the spring of 1880, about half the tribe had left the reservation and taken up residence with the

Sac and Fox Nation The Sac and Fox Nation ( ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes of Sauk and Meskwaki (Fox) Indian peoples. Originally from the Lake Huron and Lake Michiga ...

in Indian Territory. By the next year, in response to dwindling prospects of self-sufficiency and continued pressure from white settlers, the remaining Otoe members in Nebraska sold the Big Blue reservation. They migrated to Oklahoma. With the Otoe-Missouria already there, they purchased a new reservation in the

Cherokee Outlet The Cherokee Outlet, or Cherokee Strip, was located in what is now the state of Oklahoma in the United States. It was a 60-mile-wide (97 km) parcel of land south of the Oklahoma-Kansas border between 96 and 100°W. The Cherokee Outlet wa ...

in the Indian Territory. This is in present-day

Noble A noble is a member of the nobility. Noble may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Noble Glacier, King George Island * Noble Nunatak, Marie Byrd Land * Noble Peak, Wiencke Island * Noble Rocks, Graham Land Australia * Noble Island, Great B ...

and

Counties, Oklahoma. Today the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians is federally recognized. It is based in

Notable Otoe

* Annette Arkeketa, poet and playwright *

Carol Channing Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, singer, dancer and comedian who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Her characters usually had a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice, ...

, actress *

Chono Ca Pe Chono Ca Pe was a Native American chief of the Otoe tribe The Otoe (Chiwere: Jiwére) are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the ...

, early 19th-century leader *

Hayne Hudjihini Hayne Hudjihini or Eagle of Delight (c. 1795 – 1822) was a prominent Otoe woman from what is now Nebraska. The daughter of a chief, Hayne Hudjihini belonged to the Eagle clan. She became one of the five wives of Chief Sų Manyi Kathi, or Sha ...

, or Eagle of Delight (c. 1795–1822), wife of Sų Manyi Kathi *

Johny Hendricks Johny Harvey Hendricks (born September 12, 1983) is an American former mixed martial artist and collegiate wrestler. He competed in the welterweight and middleweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and is a former UFC Welterwei ...

, MMA fighter *

Tommy Morrison Tommy "The Duke" Morrison (January 2, 1969 – September 1, 2013) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1988 to 2008, and held the WBO heavyweight title in 1993. He retired from boxing in 1996 when he tested positive for HIV. Mor ...

, former heavyweight boxer and co-star in ''Rocky V'' movie * Sų Manyi Kathi, or Prairie Wolf (c. 1785–1837), sub-chief and diplomat * Anna Lee Walters, author *

Della Warrior Della Cheryl Warrior (born 1946) is the first and only woman to date to serve as the chairperson and chief executive officer for the Otoe-Missouria Tribe. She later served at the president of the Institute of American Indian Arts, finding a perma ...

, director, New Mexico Museum of Indian Arts and Culture

Notes

External links