Oto (people)
The Oto , also spelled Otoe , are a North American Indian people from the Chiwere branch of the Sioux language family , to which the Missouri and Iowa also belong.
history
The entire Chiwere group lived with the Winnebago in the Great Lakes area . Even before the arrival of white immigrants, they moved to the southwest. In the area of Green Bay in Wisconsin , they separated from the Winnebago, while the rest of the group to the Mississippi moved on. When they were visited by the Jacques Marquette Expedition in 1673 , they lived upstream on the Moines River in what is now Iowa . At the mouth of the Iowa River, they split again, the Iowa stayed there and the other two groups moved on. They reached the Missouri at the mouth of the Grand River and decided to stay there. They called themselves Neutache , but were called Missouri by the whites . After a quarrel between the chiefs of both groups, the Oto split up and continued up the Missouri. They called themselves Waghtochtatta now , while the whites called themselves Oto . Around 1760 they lived together with some Missouri in an earthen hut village on the west bank of the Platte River near the confluence of the Elkhorn River.
In July 1804 , according to Lewis and Clark , they were near the mouth of the Platte River into the Missouri, where they held a council meeting with the white explorers. The area on the Missouri is still called The Council Bluffs ( The advisory bluff ), now a district of the city of Omaha in Nebraska .
In 1830 the Oto ceded their land in Missouri and Iowa to the United States . Finally, in 1854, they sold their last land in Kansas and Nebraska and moved to a reservation on the Blue River, near the Nebraska-Kansas border. They stayed here until 1882, when they had to move with the Missouri to the Indian territory.
Culture
Like other prairie tribes , the Oto combined agriculture with hunting. They planted their gardens on the fertile soil of the river banks. They lived in fixed villages with dome-shaped dugouts and moved in spring and autumn with portable tipis on the hunt for bison , deer and pronghorn . The social organization of the Oto was well thought out and consisted of a class system with chiefs, priests, doctors and councilors. Social class was inherited in the male line, but an individual could improve his status by acquiring horses and blankets or hosting celebrations.
There were nine clans divided into two groups representing earth and heaven. Earth clans were charged with hosting war and food gathering ceremonies, while sky clans oversaw the supernatural assistance ceremonies. When the whole tribe encamped on the bison hunt in summer or on the hike, the tipis were arranged in a large circle symbolizing the tribal organization. The search for mystical visions was one of the most important male rites . Lewis and Clark reported that the Oto wore only loincloths and wore a blanket or an elaborately painted buffalo robe around their shoulders. They also observed a musical instrument consisting of a saw-shaped piece of wood over which a small stick was vigorously rubbed back and forth.
Demographics
At the end of the 18th century, more than 1,000 Oto lived in several villages along the Platte River in Nebraska. Due to devastating smallpox epidemics and frequent military campaigns, the size of the tribes decreased considerably. Lewis and Clark gave their number in 1805 as only about 500 tribal members, in 1833 George Catlin reported of 1,200 members (including some Missouri), the Indian Report of 1843 (including Missouri) mentioned 931 and in 1906 only 390 tribal members were finally mentioned counted. Today several hundred Otos live in Oklahoma and are members of the Native American Church . The 2000 census found 1,470 Oto and Missouri, and the tribal seat of the nationally recognized Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma is Red Rock, Oklahoma .
See also
literature
- Raymond J. DeMallie (Ed.): Handbook of North American Indians , Vol.13 Plains, Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington DC 2001 ISBN 0-16-050400-7
