Fox (people)
The Meskwaki or Fox (obsolete) is a North American Indian people of the Algonquin - language family . Their traditional hunting and residential area was around 1650 east, later west of Lake Michigan in what is now the US state of Iowa . Most of their descendants now live in the US states of Oklahoma , Kansas and Iowa.
Name, language and territory
Tribal designations
The Fox call themselves Meshkwahkîha or Meskwaki ("people of the red earth"), this can possibly be derived from the Fox words Meshkwi (" red "), Meshkothiwa (red-colored) or Meshkwâwi ("it is red") and Neniwaki ( "Men"), which was later shortened to "Mesquakie". In general, the Meskwaki were also known as "people of the red earth" among neighboring tribes, e.g. B. with the closely related Sauk / Sac (Othâkîwa) ("people of the yellow earth") who called the Fox Êshkwîha .
Other variants: Meshkwakihug , Meshkwahkihaki , Meskwahki u. a.
The tribal name “Fox” (“people of the fox”), which is still common today, is probably due to a confusion on the part of the French when they first met. According to a tradition met French to a group of Meskwaki hunters, and asked them who they were and the hunter replied Wâkoshêhithowa or Manesenokimawisottiki ( "We belong to the fox - Clan "). Since the French did not understand that the tribes mostly identified themselves as belonging to their clan, they confused this as a tribal name and transferred this clan name to the entire Meskwaki people, who were now known as "Le Renards" and later as the "Fox" , both with the meaning ("the foxes").
The Iroquois-speaking peoples had several tribal names for the Fox: the Neutral first called Atisitaehronon , as did the Huron - Petun Atsistaeronnon , which both means "Fire Nation"; later it was only used for the Mascouten, who were linguistically and culturally close to the Fox . Later, however, the Wendat peoples referred to them as Oskovararonon and the Seneca as Haskwahkiha , which is both a recording of the Fox self-designation as "Meshkwahkîha". However, they were generally known among the Iroquois as Skenchioronon (Wendat variant) or Tsitsho'á: ka (Mohawk variant) ("people of the fox"), which is probably an adaptation of the French name "Le Renards" ("foxes “) Is.
Another derogatory term for the hostile Algonquian peoples (including the Fox) was Rontsha'ká: nons / Atsha'ká: nons ("They gnaw their lips") or Rontewa'ká: nons / Atewa'ká: nons (" They gnaw on their words ”) and referred to the differences in the phonetics of the two language families: the Iroquois did not know any labial consonants ( b, p, m ) whose articulation primarily involves the lips (therefore they could not“ Meshkwahkîha ” pronounce correctly).
The neighboring tribes of the Anishinaabe (g) originally referred to the Fox as Odagaamii (wag) or Otakamik ("people on the other bank"), as they lived on the south bank of the Great Lakes and the Anishinaabe mostly along the north bank; the French transliteration is outagamy . Today, however, they have taken over the Fox's self-designation and now also call it Miskwaakii (wag) .
language
The Meskwaki (Fox) speak together with the closely related and allied Sauk (Sac) and Kickapoo a common central Algonquin language , which is mostly known as Meskwaki (Fox-Sauk) (also: Fox-Sauk-Kickapoo ). Their dialect variant called Meskwakiatoweni is closest to the dialect variant Thâkiwâtowêweni of Sauk and has greater differences to the dialect of Kickapoo. In addition, the Mascouten, which no longer exist as an independent tribe, spoke another dialect variant of the same language. The linguistic and cultural similarities suggest that these four tribes lived close together shortly before contact with Europeans. Some evidence suggests that the Shawnee could also belong to this group as the fifth tribe.
territory
Prior to contact with Europeans, the Fox were a clearly defined separate tribe. The United States government, however, has illegally linked them into a union with the Sauk . After 1773, their relationship with the Sauk consisted of a close alliance rather than a union or even a confederation. Both tribes occasionally started joint ventures, but remained politically and territorially separated. Regardless of these facts, the US government classified it as a unit called "Sac-and-Fox". In the early nineteenth century, a band split off ( English " tribal group ") and was officially recognized under the name Sac-and-Fox of the Missouri . The rest of the two tribes were named Sac-and-Fox of the Mississippi . In the 1850s, the Fox ended their alliance with the Sauk, left Kansas and returned to Iowa. This created a new group, which in previous official terminology was called the Sac-and-Fox of the Mississippi in Iowa .
The first French maps of the Great Lakes place the Fox in southern Michigan between Lake Michigan and Lake Huron . A few years later, under pressure from Iroquois raids, they had evaded into Wisconsin . At the time of European contact, they lived on the Wolf River in northeastern Wisconsin and inhabited an area that stretched from Lake Superior to the Chicago River and from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. Around 1677 they were found on the upper Fox River . Due to the wars against the French in the early eighteenth century, they moved southwest and reached the lower Wisconsin River and Iowa. They settled on the west bank of the Mississippi by the early nineteenth century. In the past 150 years, a piece of prairie culture has always been part of their life and increasingly dominated their way of life.
External relationships
The change in the culture of the Fox and the tribes related to them was fluid. If they belonged to the woodland Indians in the pre-contact period, on their way west they increasingly adopted elements of the prairie culture that they adopted from the Sioux-speaking tribes in Iowa. Similarities to the culture of the Iowa Indians cannot be overlooked. One cause could be the adoption of members of the Iowa to cover the losses of the Fox in the wars against the French.
There were varying relationships with the colonial powers. The trade relations between the French and Fox were varied, yet the Indians refused to settle near the French trading posts or missions. In 1712, part of Fox changed its policy and moved to Detroit . Nevertheless, there was a climate of distrust and suspicion that eventually led to several wars. The Fox's courage to fight and the high cost of the war prompted the French to make peace with the Fox. However, they were still suspicious of the French. During the years of British rule, relations were peaceful. When the United States was established and militarily controlled the Midwest , the Fox no longer waged wars.
Groups of Fox
The Fox were divided into several groups that can be referred to as bands (groups) or villages. Such a band lived in a summer village and gathered with the other groups of the tribe in the spring of each year to hunt buffalo together. After that, all groups returned to their own summer villages. The bands were apparently named after their leaders. The number of members of a band changed, but there is no information about the lifespan of a band.
Culture
There are numerous accounts of the Fox, but little information about their culture. Most of the detailed records date from the early nineteenth century, particularly between 1820 and 1830. These data were supplemented by research by some anthropologists collected in later years.
Livelihood
The Fox's livelihoods were hunting and agriculture. The annual buffalo hunts ended in 1823 when these animals disappeared from the Fox hunting grounds. For meat supply, the Fox now mainly hunted deer, whose skins and tallow were needed as commercial goods. Smaller fur animals were also part of the prey, which were either hunted or caught in traps. Fishing was a part of the Fox's livelihood only when wildlife meat became scarce. Women gathered nuts, berries, milkweed , honey, beeswax and various tubers , but this activity was of lesser importance for nutrition. In the fields in the floodplains near the villages, women grew garden crops such as corn, beans, squash , pumpkins and melons. Lead ore was mined for trade. When the crops were harvested in the fall and more supplies were delivered on credit from the merchants, the Foxes left their villages and went on horseback or canoe to their hunting grounds east of the Missouri and Iowa Rivers. They split up into small hunting groups and hunted for about two months until winter came. Then they gathered and spent the winter in larger camps in the protective river valleys. Here they were visited by traders and exchanged furs and hides for loans from the fall, clothing and ammunition. In early spring, the hunted again in small groups while the families remained in the camp. When the hunters returned in April, the entire group moved back to their village. Corn and vegetables were grown in May and June. Many men went hunting again while the rest of the tribe worked in the fields or in the lead mines.
Settlements and houses
Fox's summer homes were rectangular in plan, around 40 to 60 feet (13 to 20 m) long and 20 feet (7 m) wide. They consisted of a wooden frame made of posts and thin branches, which was covered with elm bark and offered enough space for an extended family. The huts were arranged in two rows and ran from east to west. There was a large space nearby for events such as ritual dances, horse races, lacrosse games and other common activities. There was always a river near the settlement surrounded by gardens. The cemetery was laid out on a hill. The summer village served as a permanent place of residence until the firewood ran out or external influences such as wars or storms forced the residents to change their location. In 1820, the two largest Fox villages comprised 35 and 20 huts, respectively.
The winter camps were of different sizes and could accommodate one or two families, but also larger groups up to the entire band. The dwellings consisted of dome-shaped, round or oval, scaffolding made of tree branches, which were covered with reed or rush mats. A platform about one meter high and covered with bison skins served as a bed.
Life cycle
There was a special little hut for women giving birth, in which they gave birth in the presence of other women. Men were not allowed into the birthing hut. After ten days, the mother was allowed to go back to the family house at night with her child, but had to eat in the birthing hut during the day and observe numerous regulations until the first menstruation after the birth.
During this time, she invited the older relatives to the child's naming ceremony. One of these, a man or a woman depending on the sex of the child, gave the child a name from the father's clan , which was not borne by any living person. This name was apparently valid for life. Exceptions were men when they returned from the war and women after a dream or a vision. The new name added to the first one from childhood. Children were rarely physically punished. In order to reprimand bad behavior, there was usually food withdrawal for the child. Boys between the ages of six and seven were given little bows and hunted birds, while little girls helped their mother.
When the first menstruation began, the girls had to spend ten days in a special menstrual hut, to which men were not allowed. Later menstruation also required the woman to stay in a special hut. Boys and girls looked for a vision during their puberty . While boys preferred to encounter this in a lonely place, girls had their vision more at home than in isolation. Both sexes painted their faces with vermilion paint to indicate their entry into adulthood.
The courtship usually began before the age of twenty. When a young man was interested in a girl, he would sneak up to her bed at night and hold a burning piece of bark in his hand as a source of light. There he made her a marriage proposal. If she agreed, he stayed until the next morning and introduced himself to the family. A man could also ask the girl's brother to act as negotiator. There were other forms of courtship, such as playing a love flute to choose a young woman, but only if she had been married before. A marriage was confirmed by the exchange of roughly equivalent gifts between the two families. A newly married couple lived with the woman's parents for about a year or until the first child was born. In this phase they had to submit to their parents. Then the couple could move to his parents' home or to their own house. The Fox practiced polygyny mostly in its sororal form, in which a man could marry one or more sisters of his first wife.
Death was the most ritualized event among the Fox and received great attention. The death of a relative was announced by a crier. The dead man's clan members gathered in his house for the all-night mourning ceremony. The funeral itself was carried out by selected members of the clan, with one family helping the other. The burial on a wooden platform was rare. The graves were sorted by clan affiliation and lineage (ancestry group) and oriented from east to west, with the feet of the deceased pointing west. Well-known warriors were buried in a seated position. They wore their best clothes, were wrapped in mats, and were given some grave goods, including food and drinking water. The master of ceremonies advised the dead not to look back or to envy the living and scattered tobacco crumbs into the grave. Sometimes the dead enemies of the deceased warrior were enumerated and their souls were offered to accompany the dead man on his last journey. The grave was then filled with earth and later covered with a small wooden hut. At the head of the grave was a stake on which the clan membership and some war honors of the deceased were recorded. The deceased's belongings were shared among relatives and those attending the funeral.
The period of mourning lasts from six months to a year or even longer. She was particularly strict with the affected wives and parents of young children, especially dead infants. These people had to publicly demonstrate their grief by looking unkempt, shabby clothing, renouncing pleasures, and avoiding loud laughter. Mourning women were not allowed to work in the fields and men were not allowed to participate in the hunt. The period of mourning ended with the ceremonial adoption of a child. Although only captive enemy adoption was reported in the nineteenth century, there were certainly ceremonial adoptions within the tribe as well. For example, the Fox replaced any dead person with the adoption of a living person, usually a boyfriend or girlfriend of the deceased. This person kept their identity and did not change the household. Such an adoption ceremony took place within four years of death and was accompanied by a party, games and dances. It was believed that this ceremony was especially valued by the deceased and that he did not now turn into an evil spirit. An exchange of gifts took place between the adoptee and the new relatives.
Social organization
A household usually consisted of 5 to 30 people and around 10 people on average. Each household formed an economic unit, whose men hunted together while the women worked in the house and garden and looked after the small children. The houses and inventory belonged to the women who were responsible for the housework.
The kinship system was described by the anthropologist Sol Tax in 1955 and compared with that of the Omaha . The Fox had a similar system of exogamous patrilineal clans. A traditional list lists the names of eight clans: bear (bear), fox (fox), wolf, swan (swan), partridge (partridge), thunder (thunder), elk (elk) and black bass. Clans were conceptual kinship groups, but rather unimportant compared to the lineages they contained. Their functions were ritual and based on two interrelated aspects. First of all, each clan of the Fox consisted of a group of names that came from a namesake and had the exclusive right to a corresponding pool of names. Second, a clan was a cult group whose members is a sacred bundle were holding (sacred pack) collected and semi-annual ceremonies. Theoretically, each clan descended from a person who, while searching for a name, encountered a ghost in the form of a name during a vision. This vision contained additional details about the contents of the sacred bundle, instructions for ceremonies and the names themselves. As a result of the names and the sacred bundle, the power of the vision could be transmitted to all clan members, triggered by a sacred pack ritual .
The lineages associated with the clan had variants of the name derived from an eponym. As an example, the bear clan could include both the brown bear and black bear lineage. Lineages were important for the inheritance of ritual and political functions. Widows and widowers were expected to replace their deceased spouses with members from the same lineage. Violations of these rules were collectively punished by women of the affected lineage by destroying the perpetrator's property. A lineage usually consisted of a group gathered around a sacred bundle.
The Fox tribe consisted of two divisions called kiskoha and tokhana , symbolized by the colors black and white. Although both units resembled moieties from other tribes, they were not groups of the same ancestry. For example, siblings were alternately assigned to a different department according to the order of their birth. The first child in a couple automatically became a member of the group the father was not a member of, while the second child joined the father's group, and so on. This ensured that both groups remained roughly the same size and that relatives could be found in all other social units. The groups were responsible for organizing games, ceremonies, dances and also for campaigns. Certain members of each division made up jokes to tease the other side. Since this dichotomy ran through the entire band, the clan, the lineage and the family, it harbored the danger of splitting the tribe.
Another social grouping was society, a loose, voluntary association of men and women who had to perform various tasks, such as certain rituals or campaigns. An important religious society was the Midewiwin, or the Grand Medicine Society , a secret society whose members could cure diseases and possessed supernatural powers to protect the tribe from harm. Many ceremonies centered around the medicine bundle , also called the holy bundle, which contained a collection of magical items. Societies could be limited in time when their mission was completed. The tasks of a temporary warrior society included, for example, carrying out raids on the respective enemy.
Political organization
The political structure of the Fox was divided into a peace and a war organization. Its members were often the same people, only the leadership changed. Each organization had a chief, several subordinate chiefs and so-called crier. The peace chief normally had nominal authority within the tribe, but his performance in office was characterized by persuasion rather than sanctions and inevitably weakened his leadership position. His role consisted primarily of moderation, dispute resolution and reconciliation. He convened the tribal council, chaired it and often took part in rituals. His property was available to anyone in need. In return, the peace chief received furs and other gifts from the tribesmen. The tasks of his assistant, the crier, were announcements, the dissemination of important news and the function of the chief's spokesman.
In times of war or when danger was imminent, the authority changed to the war organization, which had considerably more powers for a limited period of time. The war chief commanded the camp police, consisting of warriors, which also ensured the enforcement of resolutions of the tribal council. She had the right to destroy the property of anyone who did not obey her orders without fear of retaliation. The camp police were very effective and widely recognized in their sphere of activity.
The office of peace chief was permanently linked to a certain lineage, from which a successor was elected by the tribal council if necessary. Traditionally, the Fox peace chief always came from the bear clan. When the peace chief was killed in 1829, a woman from the black bear lineage had a vision in which she was assigned to designate the new chief. The tribal council confirmed her claim and she elected her brother's son to be the next chief of peace. Her lineage held the post until 1883 when it switched to the brown bear lineage.
The choice of war chief was subject to different criteria. The office was traditionally linked to the Fox Clan, so that this clan was always called War Chief instead of the Fox Clan. Most of the names in the clan were therefore more related to this term than to the eponym. The tribal council decided on war and peace, the selection of the area for winter hunting, and relations with other tribes. Little is known about the composition. Presumably the membership was also hereditary and came from special lineages.
Despite the relatively weak authority of the peace chiefs, the Fox were subject to reasonable, effective social control. The Indian agent Thomas Forsyth reported that traders left their warehouses unlocked and unguarded near the village and still nothing was stolen. There were certain sanctions for violating rules and laws. In particular, the non-observance of the restrictions for two couples was pursued within the lineages . The relatives of a murder victim could choose between redress or retaliation. Vengeance on the murderer was rarely chosen, as this choice entailed the intervention of the chief or the tribal council. Although harsh penalties were threatened for adultery, it usually only resulted in divorce.
war
Between 1820 and 1830, only permanent US interference prevented a large-scale war with the Dakota. It was triggered by the invasion of the fox into the hunting grounds of the Dakota when they were driven northwest by the whites up the rivers of Iowa. Another cause of war between tribes was retaliation for murders of tribesmen. If a Fox was killed by a member of another tribe, retaliation could be averted if the perpetrator's party was willing to offer an atonement. But this action, called covering the dead , was often only able to avert possible revenge temporarily. Another trigger for military campaigns was the high reputation that warriors could achieve through brave deeds. This fact was already inoculated into the boys so that they went on the warpath at the age of sixteen or even earlier. If the tribal council wanted to prevent a war campaign, it could offer the leader of the troop a horse or something similar as a replacement. But he had no formal authority to stop the attack if the offer was denied. If the campaign took place anyway, the leader had to answer personally for the losses suffered before the tribal council.
If a man wanted to go on a campaign, he fasted to find a vision that he made public. In a hut outside the village he hung up a strip of red cloth or a red-dyed wampum belt . His followers visited him, smoked a pipe and put their symbol on a list. The number of companions depends on the reputation and experience of the guide. Even women occasionally accompanied their husbands on a campaign. Young men with no combat experience were used to provide food and serve as guards. Their sleeping places were on the edge of the camp. The leader carried the sacred bundle, which should always be between his group and the enemy. When attacking he was at the head of his group and when retreating he brought up the rear. The contents of the sacred bundle were the chief contribution of the leader to the success of the company and often he did not take part in the actual battles.
One defeated group broke up and its members returned one by one. However, one successful troop returned closed and sent a messenger to the village with the news of victory before they arrived. Female relatives, especially the sister's daughters, came and took the warriors' jewelry and blankets. If the tribal council agreed, a dance was held, which in turn was attended by the warriors' nieces. After that there was a short period of time when the warriors had to adhere to strict rules, including celibacy .
Prisoners too old or too frail to return to the village were usually killed. Other prisoners who reached the village alive were safe and were usually adopted immediately. Captive, adopted men were viewed as outsiders until they proved their loyalty by participating in a military campaign, while women were integrated into the tribe through marriage.
religion
The Fox universe was divided into an upper world (above the earth, sky) and an underworld (below the earth). The Great Manitu (Great Manitou) - not a personal god, but rather a world soul - ruled in the upper world and lived in the zenith . Other great gods or spirits dwelt in the four directions. In the east there was the sun, in the north there was the Creator (also wi-sahke-ha ), in the west lived the younger brother ki-ya-pa-hte-ha , who watched over the spirits of the dead, and in the south there was sa- wano-ha who controlled the thunder gods. There were also numerous spirits of lesser influence. Most spirits personified had functions in the universe and were in some degree related to the tribe. So were the Creator's Fox aunts and uncles in the maternal line and the grandchildren of the earth and all that grew on it.
In order to come into contact with the supersensible beings, the Fox had four important actions with which the gods could be attracted. They dyed the face black with charcoal to invoke the spirit of the fire, with fasting one purified one's body and made the spirits positive, wailing attracted attention and aroused pity, while smoking or offering tobacco was perhaps the most important method, to get in touch with the gods. They valued tobacco beyond measure, but could only get it through people and were therefore delighted and grateful. In addition, the Fox were of the opinion that dogs were manito (mysterious and thus supernatural) and that other manitu spirits were comfortable eating dog meat.
Learning the technique to search for a vision (vision quest) began in childhood. At first it was only a short attempt, but finally during puberty the decisive vision came about. When a Fox experienced an intense vision, the Sacred Bundle and its paraphernalia were revealed to them, which gave their body and mind a certain power. This bundle, which he always had to carry with him, remained his only secret. Some Indians received very powerful properties from the gods, the positive effects of which benefited not only the seeker, but also his lineage, his clan and, with restrictions, even his tribe. The bundle belonging to it was within a small group that could trust its strength as long as they handled the bundle carefully and kept the appropriate rituals.
There were two ceremonies annually for each important bundle. The little winter ceremony got by without dances. The big, detailed summer ritual, on the other hand, included a big feast, dances, chants and prayers. There were also reminders and a description of the original vision and the history of the bundle. The ceremony was a certification of divine promises and was intended to remind the gods of their promises and to explain their duties to the assembled members of the group concerned. Finally, the two sides exchanged gifts.
history
The French missionary Claude-Jean Allouez met some Fox in the course of his missionary work between 1665 and 1667 at Chequamegon . Shortly thereafter, the French trading post at Green Bay opened and prompted the Fox living there to move to the Wolf River. It was reported by traders that the Fox owned very few metal tools, only five or six hatchets in the village and only one knife in each house. As a result of the beginning of the fur trade, the economic situation and with it the material culture of Fox soon changed.
Fox Wars
The Fox were the only Algonquin tribe that did not have good relations with the French. Several factors were responsible for this. The Fox were against the French fur trade with the Dakota , bitter enemies of the Fox at the time. They also hated French interference in inter-tribal wars in Wisconsin. The tension turned into an open war in 1712, which went down in history as the First Fox War (1712–1716). A mixed troop of Fox, Mascouten and Kickapoo with over 300 warriors moved to Fort Pontchartrain (now Fort Detroit ) on May 13, 1712 to ambush it. The attack failed and the Indians began to siege the fort. The French had now formed a coalition of several neighboring Indian tribes that fell in the rear of the Fox and their allies. They fled to a village north of the fort surrounded by palisades and suddenly the besiegers became besieged. After nineteen days of siege, the Fox finally managed to escape in the course of a night thunderstorm. Their pursuers caught up with them in the headwaters of the Detroit River . In a four-day battle, the majority of the Fox and their companions were captured or killed. The rest fled back to Wisconsin and took bloody revenge on the French traders there. The French commanders then sent a punitive expedition to Wisconsin in 1716. After a three day siege of their main village, the Fox agreed to surrender.
In 1728 there was another armed conflict between the French and a coalition of Fox, Kickapoo, Mascouten and Winnebago, the Second Fox War (1729-1737). The French pursued the goal of using the traditional enemies of the Fox to completely destroy this tribe and to solve the problem with a genocide . The Fox's enemies included warriors from the Chippewa , Dakota, Ottawa , Potawatomi, and Wyandot . At the same time, they were abandoned by their allies who defected to the French. Around 1730 a larger group of the Fox sought refuge with the Seneca , with whom part of the Fox had lived since 1712. On the way east they had to cross the Illinois area. It came in the summer of 1730 to an open field battle on the prairie east of today's Bloomington in Illinois . The united Illinois surrounded them and asked the French and allied tribes for assistance. Eventually, around 1,400 warriors were gathered to destroy the Fox. Although the French commanders reported the complete annihilation of the Fox, there was still a larger group in Wisconsin. These too suffered from constant attacks by hostile tribes allied with the French. The French, disappointed in the unfinished genocide of the hated Fox, decided to either kill the survivors or send them to the West Indies as slaves . The Sauk, previously allies of the French, took this Fox in their village west of Green Bay and asked the French to make peace with the Fox. The answer came in 1734 when a French force under Sieur de Villiers , accompanied by warriors from the Ojibwe and Menominee , demanded the surrender of the Sauk and Fox. These refused and in the ensuing battle the French commander was killed. In the confusion that followed, both tribes were able to escape, cross the Mississippi, and settle in eastern Iowa in 1735.
A second French expedition was sent under de Noyelle in 1736 to destroy the Sauk and Fox. By now most of the tribes had left the alliance with the French. The French campaign ended in fiasco when the soldiers were misled by Kickapoo scouts . In 1737, the French government ended the Fox Wars and guaranteed the surviving Fox a general amnesty. Only 500 tribesmen had survived the wars of extermination.
Moving to reservations
When the French had to leave North America after the lost war against the British , the Fox returned to Wisconsin in 1765, strengthened by their alliance with the Sauk. There they were visited by Jonathan Carver in 1766 and by Peter Pond in 1773. At the end of the eighteenth century they moved to the Iowa side of the Mississippi. In the Black Hawk War of 1832, the last Indian War in the United States east of the Mississippi, the Sauk and Fox remained neutral. But the government urged them to cede their land in Iowa. After further concessions in 1837 and 1842, both tribes agreed to move to a reservation in Kansas.
Serious tension arose in 1843 because the Fox distrusted Chief Keokuk von den Sauk, who received and administered the annual government annuity payments for both tribes. The Fox were also dissatisfied with the state of the reservation, with contagious diseases, poor harvests and no events whatsoever. There was also a rumor that they would have to move to Oklahoma. During this time Kansas became a dangerous place for Indians as heavily armed whites made the state unsafe. In 1859 white squatters illegally settled on their reservation and harassed the Indians. Several groups of Fox had since left Kansas and returned to Iowa. The state government of Iowa passed a bill that would give them 80 acres of land on the Iowa River near Tama for $ 1,000. The Fox paid the amount of money they got from selling their horses. Even so, the authorities later tried to forcibly send the Fox back to Kansas and stopped paying the pension. In 1867 the government relented, resumed pension payments, and appointed an Indian agent for Iowa.
Over a hundred Fox had stayed with the Sauk in Kansas. Kansas was admitted as a state in 1861 and in 1863 required the relocation of all Indians to Indian territory , now Oklahoma. In 1867, the Sauk and Fox signed their last treaty with the United States, ceding their land in Kansas to a 3,000 km² (750,000 acres) reservation in Oklahoma.
Situation around 1955
In 1955, the Fox had 653 tribesmen, around 500 of whom lived in or near Tama’s Mesquakie community in Iowa. They found work in the surrounding towns. Additional land purchases since 1857 expanded the tribal area to 3,300 acres (13.35 km²). The Bureau of Indian Affairs used to pay state taxes on the land. After 1930 the tribe leased 500 acres of land to a local farmer and paid taxes on the proceeds. The Fox preserved their tribal unity and many facets of their traditional culture. The Fox language was preferred in domestic conversation and most of the tribal members participated in the rituals around the sacred bundles. Few of the Fox were entirely Christian and members of the Native American Church . A larger number, mostly women, were both Christians and followers of the traditional religion. The old clan system and the dual division of the tribe still existed. The traditional tribal leadership existed until 1937. After that, the Fox gave themselves a new constitution under the Indian Reorganization Act , which replaced the hereditary chief dignity and the appointed tribal council with a democratically elected economic council. A part of the tribe still only recognized the hereditary chief as leader.
Demographics
Most of the early population estimates are unreliable because they include a lot of information that do not separate Sauk and Fox. The most reliable nineteenth-century figures come from Forsyth and Marston, who estimated the Fox to have 1,600 and 2,000 members in 1822 and 1820, respectively. Around 1867 only 264 people were named when reliable numbers were first available. After that, the population grew steadily: in 1932 there were 403 and in 1955 there were even 653 tribal members.
The US census 2000 only contains data without separation of Sauk and Fox: Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa : 1,281 people; Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska: 79 people; Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma : 533 people; other Sac and Fox : 2,313 people. A total of 4,206 tribesmen were counted in the United States.
Today's Sauk and Fox tribes
Today, three tribes are officially recognized at the federal level ( federally Recognized ). Most of the Sauk descendants are in the Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma , while most of the Fox descendants are in the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa :
- Sac and Fox Nation of Oklahoma , proper name: Sakiwaki , other variants: Thâkîwa or Othâkîwa (administrative seat: Stroud (Sauk name: Shtowâteki), Oklahoma , their reserve area includes areas of the counties: Lincoln , Payne and Pottawatomie , tribal members: 3,794- mostly Sauk , Languages: American English, Sauk)
- Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska (formerly Sac and Fox of the Missouri Band ), proper name: Nemahahaki or Nîmahâha ("Nemaha [County] Sauk") (administrative seat: Reserve , Kansas, which includes the 1836 Sac and Fox Reservation approx. 61.226 km² of land in southeastern Richardson County , Nebraska and northeastern Brown County , Kansas , their tribal name is derived from the Nemaha Counties, tribal members: 442 - mostly Sauk, languages: American English, Sauk, Fox)
- Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa , proper name: Meskwaki Nation (administrative seat: Tama , Iowa , its reserve area covers approx. 28 km², tribe members: 1,300 - mostly Fox (Meskwaki), the Sauk resident here call themselves Yochikwîka ("Northern Sauk ") or simply Êshkwîha (" member of the Fox / Meskwaki "), languages: American English, Sauk, Meskwaki).
See also
literature
- Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 15. Northeast . Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 1978, ISBN 0-16-004575-4
- Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied : Journey to Inner North America from 1832 to 1834 . 2 volumes with illustrations by Karl Bodmer , Koblenz 1840–41. Reprint by L. Borowsky, Munich 1979.
Web links
- Homepage of the Sac and Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa / Meskwaki Nation - the Meskwaki
- Homepage of the Sac and Fox Nation (of Oklahoma) - the Thakiwaki or Sa ki wa ki
- Homepage of the Sac and Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska - the Ne ma ha ha ki
Individual evidence
- ^ Meskwaki-Sauk Color Words
- ↑ Meskwaki History - Meskwaki Language (Clans)
- ↑ the Neutral, Huron and Petun each referred to themselves as Wendat ("the islanders") and spoke three dialects of a common language
- ↑ Meskwaki Settlement School - Meskwakiatoweni (Meskwaki Language)
- ↑ Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 15: Northeast. P. 648.
- ↑ “Mascouten” is mostly derived from a Fox word meaning “Little Prairie Folk”, the often widespread meaning of “Fire Nation” is probably misleading; According to a Jesuit, the misrepresentation of some letters changed the whole meaning of the word from "little prairie" to "fire". The Jesuit's statement could be supported by the Sauk terms Mashkotêwi ("prairie") or Mashkotêwineniwa (" prairie Indian ") and shkotêwi ("fire").
- ↑ a b c d e Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians . Vol. 15: Northeast, p. 636
- ↑ a b c d Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast, p. 637
- ↑ a b c d e f g Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast, pp. 638/639
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast, pp. 639/640
- ↑ a b c d Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast, pp. 640-641.
- ↑ a b c d e f Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast, pp. 642/643
- ↑ Christian F. Feest : Animated Worlds - The religions of the Indians of North America. In: Small Library of Religions , Vol. 9, Herder, Freiburg / Basel / Vienna 1998, ISBN 3-451-23849-7 . P. 148.
- ↑ a b c Bruce G. Trigger (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 15: Northeast, pp. 643-645
- ↑ a b c d e Sauk and Fox History , accessed February 4, 2013
- ↑ US Census 2000 (PDF; 145 kB), accessed on February 6, 2013