Wea (people)

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Residential and hunting areas of the Wea, Piankashaw, and Miami before 1700

The Wea , actually Waiatanwa , were an Indian tribe whose traditional living and hunting area was south of Lake Michigan and predominantly in what is now the US state of Illinois . They were closely related to the Piankashaw and belonged with five other tribes to the group of Miami Indians . The Wea spoke a Miami-Illinois dialect that is part of the Algonquin languages . Most of the descendants of the Wea 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 Miami-Illinois dialect is closely related to the language of neighboring Illinois and the tribes mentioned could communicate well with one another. According to 17th 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 18th 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.

history

In the second half of the 17th century, the Wea lived with other Miami tribes in the region at the southern end of Lake Michigan. The area stretched from the St. Joseph River through Indiana and Illinois to the Mississippi River . Although sometimes described as defiant, all Miami tribes were considered allies of the French while the Iroquois threat persisted . However, the Wea were temporarily allied with the Iroquois when they tried to attack their traditional enemies, the Illinois tribes.

However, the Wea's alliance with the Iroquois was over when they gave shelter to some Shawnee on their territory. The Shawnee were bitter enemies of the Iroquois. Around 1682 the Wea moved near Fort Saint Louis on the Illinois River . In the meantime around 20,000 Algonquians lived there, with whom the French conducted intensive trade. The Seneca viewed this development with suspicion and returned with a force in 1684. They first attacked Miami villages in Indiana, then moved west and conquered Fort St. Louis . There they met the new alliance between Miami, Illinois and the French and lost the battle. This defeat is considered to be the turning point in the Beaver Wars . The French then strengthened their forts and began to deliver weapons to the Algonquin tribes on the Great Lakes , as well as to form an alliance against the Iroquois.

Simultaneously with the King William's War (1688–1697) between England and France, the Alliance launched its offensive against the Iroquois. They had little to oppose the Algonquian armed forces and withdrew to their tribal land in New York . After the Iroquois threat was relieved, the Miami returned to Indiana around 1700 and established their villages along the Upper Wabash and Kankakee Rivers , while the Wea and Piankashaw settled on the Middle and Lower Wabash Rivers. In the Great Peace Treaty of Montreal in 1701 between the Iroquois, the French and 40 other tribes, the 60 year long Beaver Wars were officially ended. After several unsuccessful attempts to reverse the Miami tribes' relocations, the French set up a special trading post for each tribe. Fort Miami at the site of the later Fort Wayne was laid out for the Miami, while Ouiatanon at Lafayette for the Wea and Kickapoo and Vincennes for the Piankashaw and Mascouten served as a trading post.

An unknown epidemic, possibly malaria , was rampant in the upper Mississippi River basin around 1714, causing a sharp population decline among the Wea, Miami and Illinois. Numerous older chiefs were killed and the younger ones no longer felt bound by the treaties with the French. They turned to British merchants, whose goods were reputed to be better and cheaper than the French. In 1747, English traders succeeded in poaching a Miami band from the French. The relatives moved to the Great Miami River in southwest Ohio . Within a short time the settlement had grown rapidly and posed a threat to French interests. The French in Detroit set off an expedition that destroyed the Miami village and restored French supremacy.

In the American War of Independence (1776–1783), the Wea were on the British side, because they knew that their country would be irretrievably lost if the Americans were to win. Even after the formal peace of Paris (1783) between the Americans and the British, the Miami tribes played a leading role in the Indian coalition that carried on the war against the Americans for ten years. In the early years of the war against the Americans, the Wea's territory was far enough away from the war to serve as a retreat for the tribes involved. This was especially true of the Shawnee and other tribes whose villages and food supplies had been destroyed. Towards the end of the war, however, the Wea and Miami villages suffered the same fate. Under their war chief Little Turtle , the Miami achieved considerable success. In 1780 they defeated an expedition led by Augustin de la Balme , who lured them into an ambush near Fort Wayne. They brought further defeats to the Americans in 1790 under Josiah Harmar and in 1791 under Arthur St. Clair . The winning streak of the Indian coalition ended in 1794 with the defeat by the Americans in the Battle of Fallen Timbers and the Treaty of Greenville . The Miami, Wea, and eight other coalition tribes accepted the American terms. In exchange for $ 20,000 worth of goods such as blankets, tools, and pets, the Indians ceded much of what is now Ohio to the United States. The Wea resisted Tecumseh's attempts to form a new coalition against the United States, and therefore remained neutral in the War of 1812 .

Forced relocation and today's situation

In the 19th century, the membership of all three Miami tribes declined sharply. This decline began with the Piankashaw as early as 1796. Under American pressure, they sold their land in 1814 and were relocated to Missouri. 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. This fact partly led to economic exploitation by surrounding American neighbors. There was no equivalent substitute for their traditional way of life and, with growing demoralization, many Wea became addicted to alcohol. In 1846 part of the tribe was forcibly relocated to Kansas by the army , where their population continued to decline. They eventually moved to northwest Oklahoma and formed a confederation with the Piankashaw and Peoria around 1870 . However, some of the Wea remained in Indiana along with other tribesmen and were referred to as Wabash Indians or Wabash Confederation in the treaties concluded with the US government . The majority of Wea's descendants now live with former members of the Piankashaw, Kaskaskia, and Peoria in the state-recognized tribe of the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma in Oklahoma. In 2000 this tribe had 2,639 members.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Charles Callender: Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 15: Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1978, ISBN 0-16-004575-4 , p. 689.
  2. ^ House, Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code 2006, Volume 15 . §1224, page 986
  3. ↑ a b c d e f Charles Callender: Handbook of North American Indians. Volume 15: Northeast. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington 1978, ISBN 0-16-004575-4 , pp. 681-689.
  4. ↑ US Census 2000 (PDF; 145 kB), accessed on September 18, 2016
  5. ↑ Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma , accessed September 18, 2016