The Wea were a

Miami-Illinois Miami-Illinois (endonym: , ) also known as Irenwa, or Irenwe is an indigenous Algonquian language spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the Miami a ...

-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

. Historically, they were described as either being closely related to the

Miami Tribe The Miami (Miami-Illinois: ''Myaamiaki'') are a Native American nation originally speaking one of the Algonquian languages. Among the peoples known as the Great Lakes tribes, they occupied territory that is now identified as North-central India ...

or a sub-tribe of Miami. Today, the descendants of the Wea, along with the

Kaskaskia The Kaskaskia were one of the indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in t ...

Piankeshaw The Piankeshaw, Piankashaw or Pianguichia were members of the Miami tribe who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation, therefore they were known as Peeyankihšiaki ("splitting off" from the others, Sing.: ''Peeyankihšia'' - "Piankeshaw Pers ...

, and Peoria, are enrolled in the

Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma The Peoria, also Peouaroua, are a Native American people. They are enrolled in the federally recognized Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma headquartered in Miami, Oklahoma. The Peoria people are descendants of the Illinois Confederation. The ...

, a

federally recognized tribe 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 ...

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

Name

The name ''Wea'' is used today as the a shortened version of their numerous recorded names. The Wea name for themselves (autonym) in their own language is ''waayaahtanwa'', derived from ''waayaahtanonki'', 'place of the whirlpool', where they were first recorded being seen and where they were living at that time. The many different spellings of the tribe's name include Waiatanwa, Ouaouiatanoukak, Aoiatenon, Aouciatenons, Ochiatenens, Ouatanons, Ouias, Ouiatanon, Wah-we-ah-tung-ong, Warraghtinooks, and Wyatanons.

Language

The Wea spoke a dialect of

Miami-Illinois language Miami-Illinois (endonym: , ) also known as Irenwa, or Irenwe is an indigenous Algonquian language spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the Miami a ...

, part of the

Algonquian language family The Algonquian languages ( or ; also Algonkian) are a subfamily of indigenous American languages that include most languages in the Algic language family. The name of the Algonquian language family is distinguished from the orthographically simi ...

History

The Wea lived north of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

in parts of western Indiana and southeastern Illinois. The first written mention of the tribe is from 1673.Callendar, "Miami," 689 French explorers wrote about them in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Another Miami sub-tribe, the Pepikokia were a separate tribe until 1742 but then later became part of the Wea tribe.Callender, "Miami," 681 In the 18th century, the Wea, Miami, and Piankashaw remained distinct tribes. The Wea population of 1765 is estimated to have been around 1,200. In the early 18th century, Wea people settled in villages along the

Wabash River The Wabash River ( French: Ouabache) is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 13, 2011 river that drains most of the state of Indiana in the United States. It flows fro ...

between what would become

Terre Haute Terre Haute ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Vigo County, Indiana, United States, about 5 miles east of the state's western border with Illinois. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 60,785 and its metropolitan area had a ...

and

Logansport, Indiana Logansport is a city in and the county seat of Cass County, Indiana, United States. The population was 18,366 at the 2020 census. Logansport is located in northern Indiana at the junction of the Wabash and Eel rivers, northwest of Kokomo. Hi ...

.Callendar, "Miami," 686 They established a large settlement called

Ouiatenon Ouiatenon ( mia, waayaahtanonki) was a dwelling place of members of the Wea tribe of Native Americans. The name ''Ouiatenon'', also variously given as ''Ouiatanon'', ''Oujatanon'', ''Ouiatano'' or other similar forms, is a French rendering of a ...

, near what is now

Lafayette Lafayette or La Fayette may refer to: People * Lafayette (name), a list of people with the surname Lafayette or La Fayette or the given name Lafayette * House of La Fayette, a French noble family ** Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette (1757� ...

, and the French colonists established

Fort Ouiatenon Fort Ouiatenon, built in 1717, was the first fortified European settlement in what is now Indiana, United States. It was a palisade stockade with log blockhouse used as a French trading post on the Wabash River located approximately three miles ...

, which facilitated trade with the Wea and Kickapoo. In 1747, British colonists began trading with a band of Miami living on the

Great Miami River The Great Miami River (also called the Miami River) (Shawnee: ''Msimiyamithiipi'') is a tributary of the Ohio River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accesse ...

in Ohio. Weas began trading with them as well, until the French destroyed their trading post. By 1763, the Wea joined Odawa war chief

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

Pontiac's War Pontiac's War (also known as Pontiac's Conspiracy or Pontiac's Rebellion) was launched in 1763 by a loose confederation of Native Americans dissatisfied with British rule in the Great Lakes region following the French and Indian War (1754–176 ...

against the British. The Wea first were neutral during the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revolut ...

but later joined the Miami in fighting with the British. The Wea were forced to move to Missouri and Arkansas in 1820. They were later forced into Kansas and finally

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 ...

,Callendar, "Miami," 687 which became Oklahoma. With increased Euro-American settlement and the United States's policy of

Indian removal Indian removal was the United States government policy of forced displacement of self-governing tribes of Native Americans from their ancestral homelands in the eastern United States to lands west of the Mississippi Riverspecifically, to a de ...

, the US federal government made many treaties with these tribes. In 1854, the Wea signed a treaty that merged them politically with other remnant tribes of the

Illinois Confederacy The Illinois Confederation, also referred to as the Illiniwek or Illini, were made up of 12 to 13 tribes who lived in the Mississippi River Valley. Eventually member tribes occupied an area reaching from Lake Michicigao (Michigan) to Iowa, Illi ...

to become the Confederated Peoria Tribe. The Miami people also joined the Confederated Peoria Tribe in 1873.

Former village sites

Listed are just a few villages that were located in Indiana and Illinois. * Chicago Chicago, Illinois * Kenapacomaqua Logansport, Indiana * Ouiatenon Lafayette, Indiana, where a marker notes the site * Kethtippecahnunk Lafayette * Sugar Creek Village/Reserve Sugar Creek, Indiana * Weauteno / Jacco's Towne Terre Haute, Indiana (a marker is placed at Fairbanks Park) * Upper Wea Village/Town 2 miles above Terre Haute * Old Wea Town, Between Terre Haute and Vincennes * Wea Reserve Parke County, Indiana (a marker notes the site) * Wea Village Danville, Illinois * Paola, Miami County, Kansas In 2004, the Indiana Historical Bureau installed a marker in Terre Haute that commemorates the Wea Village and Chief Jacco Godfroy.

Signed treaties

Below are some of the many Treaties were made between the US and the Wea. *

Treaty of Greenville The Treaty of Greenville, formally titled Treaty with the Wyandots, etc., was a 1795 treaty between the United States and indigenous nations of the Northwest Territory (now Midwestern United States), including the Wyandot and Delaware peoples, ...

, Aug 3, 1795 * Fort Wayne Indiana Territory, June 7, 1803, was not at the original treaty but signed later * Vincennes, Indiana Territory, Aug 13, 1803 * Grouseland Indiana Territory, Aug 21, 1805 * Vincennes Indiana Territory, Dec 30, 1805 * Fort Wayne Indiana Territory, Sept 30, 1809 * Vincennes Indiana Territory, Oct 26, 1809 * Fort Harrison, Indiana Territory, June 4, 1816 * Vincennes Indiana Territory, Jan 3, 1818 * St Mary's Ohio Oct 2, 1818, ceded most lands in Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio, and established small reservation in Indiana on the Wabash River * Vincennes, Indiana, Aug 11, 1820, ceded last land in Indiana, removed to Missouri and Arkansas * St Joseph, Michigan, Sept 21,1826 * St Joseph, Michigan, Sept 24, 1828 * Treaty of Oct 29, 1832, acquired 250 sections of land in

Miami County, Kansas Miami County (county code MI) is a county located in east-central Kansas and is part of the Kansas City metropolitan area. As of the 2020 census, the county population was 34,191. Its county seat and most populous city is Paola. History Nati ...

* Treaty of May 30, 1854 * Omnibus Treaty of February 23, 1867 Some mentions of Wea people in treaties include the following: Treaty of St. Marys 1820 in Article 3: "As it is contemplated by the said Tribe, to remove from the Wabash, it is agreed, that the annuity secured to the Weas, by the Treaty of Saint Mary's, above mentioned, shall hereafter be paid to them at

in the state of Illinois." Treaty of Castor Hill 1832 in Article 4: "The United States will also afford some assistance to that part of the Wea tribe now residing in the State of Indiana, to enable them to join the rest of their tribe on the lands hereby assigned them,...."

Notable Wea people

Stone Eater Stone Eater (''Sanemamitch'') was a Wea war chief in the 18th century, after the abandonment of Ouiantanon, in the present day U.S. state Indiana. Tecumseh confederacy Stone Eater (a contemporary of P'koum-kwa, aka "Pacanne") joined the Tecumse ...

, 18th-century Wea war chief

Notes

References

* Callender, Charles, "Miami," in ''Handbook of North American Indians,'' Raymond D. Fogelson, ed. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004), 681–89.

External links

Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma
official website {{authority control Native American tribes in Indiana Native American tribes in Oklahoma Native American history of Indiana Algonquian ethnonyms Algonquian peoples Illinois Confederation