Piankashaw

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Miami, Wea and Piankashaw residential and hunting areas before 1700

The Piankashaw , also Piankeshaw , were an Indian tribe whose traditional living and hunting area was south of Lake Michigan in what is now the US states of Indiana , Illinois and Ohio . They were closely related to the Wea and belonged to the group of Miami Indians with five other tribes . The descendants of the Piankashaw are now part of the federally recognized tribe of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma and live in Oklahoma .

Language and related groups

The Piankashaw spoke a Miami dialect that is one of the Algonquian languages and is closely related to the language of neighboring Illinois . According to seventeenth-century French records, there were a total of six Miami tribes: Atchatchakangouen, Kilatika, Mengakonkia, Pepikokia, Piankashaw, and Wea . These groups were often collectively referred to as Miami. In the early eighteenth century a number of the tribes lost their identities, and eventually only the Miami proper, the Piankashaw, and the Wea remained. These tribes were aware of their common origins. The Miami felt like the older brothers of the other tribes, but each of them was completely independent.

Residential area and culture

The residential area of ​​the Piankashaw was at the beginning of the first European contact at the southern end of Lake Michigan and extended from the Saint Joseph River in the north to the Vermilion River in northern Illinois . At the beginning of the 18th century they were to be found in the catchment area of ​​the Wabash River .

The Piankashaw and Wea were independent and were each led by their own chief. Their culture was very similar to that of neighboring Illinois . In contrast to other Algonquin tribes in the Great Lakes area, their culture showed significant connections to the Mississippi culture . Their traditional livelihood was covered by hunting and farming and was typical of the Indian population on the Great Lakes. The hunt was mainly used for the fur trade and only took place in winter, when the fur of the animals was particularly valuable. In the summer mainly fish were caught. The bison had disappeared from the prairies east of the Mississippi well before the 19th century and there were no more buffalo hunts together. The entire population took part in the gathering of certain wild plants and their edible roots and tubers. The villages were surrounded by extensive corn fields and the residents alternated between summer villages and winter camps. A typical oval summer hut in the 17th century consisted of a framework made of curved tree saplings covered with reed mats. The huts were mostly irregularly distributed on the bank of a body of water and a village could stretch up to five kilometers.

history

In the nineteenth century, the membership of all three Miami tribes shrank rapidly. This decline began with the Piankashaw as early as 1796. Under American pressure, they sold their land in 1814 and were relocated to Missouri in 1820 and to the Cygnes River in eastern Kansas in 1832 . The Wea followed them in the early 1820s. The Miami also sold part of their land, but initially resisted forced relocation. Their culture deteriorated and efforts to adapt to the American way of life failed. The causes are unclear - possibly it was due to their relative wealth, which was due to the annual annuity payments on their land sales. This fact partly led to economic exploitation by surrounding American neighbors. There was no equivalent substitute for their traditional way of life, and growing demoralization meant that many Miami became addicted to alcohol. In 1846 part of the tribe was forcibly relocated to Kansas by the army, where their population continued to decline. In 1854, Wea and Piankashaw formally allied with the Kaskaskia and Peoria , sub-tribes of the Illinois, and formed the Confederated Peoria . More Miami were added in 1873 and the tribe was named United Peoria and Miamis . Today they are recognized federally as the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma .

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ House, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code 2006, Volume 15 . §1224, page 986
  2. ^ A b c Charles Callender: Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 15: Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1978, ISBN 0-16-004575-4 , pp. 681-689.