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 related Iowa, Missouria, and

Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iow ...

tribes. Historically, the Otoe tribe lived as a semi-nomadic people on the Central Plains along the bank of the Missouri River in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri. They lived in elm-bark lodges while they farmed, and used tipis 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 tribe, the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, headquartered in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

History

The Otoe were once part of the

and Siouan-speaking tribes of the Western Great Lakes and Upper Midwest. Around the 16th century, successive groups split off and migrated west and south. These became distinct tribes, the Otoe, the Missouria, and the Ioway. The Otoe settled in the lower Nemaha River valley. They adopted the horse culture 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 central to their diet and culture.

European contact

When the Lewis and Clark Expedition 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 in present-day Nebraska. Otoe County, Nebraska 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 villages while the people were out hunting.Page 200, ''The Pawnee Indians'', by George Hyde, University of Oklahoma Press (1988) (first published 1951, revised edition 1974), trade paperback, 372 pages 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 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, 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. 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 (Fox language, ''Mesquakie'' language: ''Othâkîwaki / Thakiwaki'' or ''Sa ki wa ki'') is the largest of three federally recognized tribes, federally recognized tribes of Sauk people, Sauk and Meskwaki, Meskwaki (Fox) Ame ...

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 in the Indian Territory. This is in present-day Noble and Pawnee Counties, Oklahoma. Today the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians is federally recognized. It is based in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

Notable Otoe

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 *

Annette Arkeketa Annette Arkeketa is a writer, poet, and playwright, and a member of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma. She has conducted professional workshops in these fields, in addition to the creative process, script consulting, and documentary film makin ...

, poet and playwright * Benjamin West, (Otoe & Southern Cheyenne) Buffalo Clan & Bow String Society (b. 1978) Emmy Award photojournalist, photographer & digital artist. Creator of "The Arkeketa Project". *

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 (ca. 1795–1822), wife of Sų Manyi Kathi * Johny Hendricks, MMA fighter * Tommy Morrison, former heavyweight boxer and co-star in ''Rocky V'' movie * Sų Manyi Kathi, or Prairie Wolf (ca. 1785–1837), sub-chief and diplomat *

Anna Lee Walters Anna Lee Walters (born September 9, 1946) is a Pawnee/Otoe-Missouria author. Life and career Walters was born on September 9, 1946 in Pawnee, Oklahoma to parents Juanita and Luther McGlaslin. Walters obtained her BA from Goddard College in Plain ...

, author

Notes

External links