Miami tribe

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The Miami are a Native American tribe originally found in Indiana, southwest Michigan and Ohio, and now living also in Oklahoma.

1 Name
2 History
3 Places named for the Miami
4 Notable Miami
5 Notes
6 External links

[edit] Name

The name 'Miami' derives from the tribe's name for themselves in their own Algonquian language, Myaamia (plural Myaamiaki). Some sources say that the Miami called themselves the Twightwee (also spelled Twatwa), an onomatopoeic reference to their sacred bird, the Sandhill crane. However, "Twightwee" appears to be a Delaware language name for the Miamis, and some Miamis have stated that this was only a name used by other tribes for the Miamis, and not a name the Miamis used for themselves. Another common usage was Mihtohseeniaki, "the people," and the Miami continue to employ this ethnonym today.

[edit] History

[edit] Prehistory

The Miami are thought by anthropologists to be one of the cultural descendants of the Mississippian culture, characterized by maize-based agriculture, chiefdom-level social organization, extensive regional trade networks, hierarchal settlement patterns, and other factors. The historical Miami seem also to have enjoyed hunting.

[edit] European contact

When French missionaries first encountered the Miami in the mid 17th century, they were living around the shores of Lake Michigan. The Miami had reportedly moved there because of pressure from the Iroquois further east. Early French explorers noticed many linguistic and cultural similarities between the Miami bands and the Illiniwek. At this time, the major divisions of the Miami were:

Atchakangouen (also Atchatchakangouen or Greater Miami)
Kilatika
Mengkonkia (Mengakonia)
Pepikokia (Kithtippecanuck)
Piankeshaw (Newcalenous)
Wea (Ouiatenon)^[1]

In 1696, the Comte de Frontenac appointed Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes as commander of the French outposts in northeast Indiana and southwest Michigan. Here he became good friends with the Miami people, settling first at the St. Joseph River, and, in 1704, establishing a trading post and fort at Kekionga, present day Fort Wayne, Indiana.^[2]

By the eighteenth century, the Miami had for the most part returned to their homeland in present-day Indiana and Ohio. The eventual victory of the British in the French and Indian War led to an increased British presence in traditional Miami areas. Shifting alliances and the gradual encroachment of white settlement led to some Miami bands merging. Native Americans created larger tribal confederacies as they allied both to participate in European wars and to fight advancing white settlement, led by Chief Little Turtle. By the end of the century, the tribal divisions were:

Miami
Piankeshaw
Wea

The latter two groups were closely aligned with some of the Illini tribes and were later lumped with them for administrative purposes. The Eel River band maintained a somewhat separate status, which proved beneficial in the removals of the nineteenth century. The nation's traditional capital was Kekionga.

[edit] United States

The Miami had mixed relations with the United States. Some villages of the Piankeshaw openly supported the Americans during the American Revolution, while the villages around Ouiatenon were openly hostile. The Miami of Kekionga remained allies of the British, but were not openly hostile to the United States (except when attacked by Augustin de La Balme in 1780). The U.S. government did not trust their neutrality, however, and attacked Kekionga multiple times during the Northwest Indian War. Each attack was repulsed, including the battle known as St. Clair's Defeat, the worst defeat of an American army by Native Americans in U.S. history at the time.^[3]

The Northwest Indian War ended with the Battle of Fallen Timbers and Treaty of Greenville. Those Miami who still resented the United States gathered around Ouiatenon and Prophetstown, where Shawnee Chief Tecumseh led a coalition of Native American nations. Prophetstown was destroyed in 1811 by territorial governor William Henry Harrison, who would use the War of 1812 as pretext for attacks on Miami villages throughout the Indiana Territory.

The Treaty of Mississinwas, signed in 1826, took away most of the Miami lands and gave them to the United States government. It also allowed Miami lands to be held as private property. When the Miami were officially removed in 1846, those with private property were allowed to stay in Indiana, while the rest of the tribe was moved to reservations West of the Mississippi River, first to Kansas, then to Oklahoma. The divide in the tribe exists to this day. The U.S. government has recognized the Western Miami (or Oklahoma Miami) as the official tribal government since the forced divide in 1846, although migration between the tribes has been a source of frustration for bureaucrats and historians alike.^[4]

The Eastern Miami (or Indiana Miami) has its own tribal government, but lacks federal recognition. Although they were recognized in an 1854 treaty, that recognition was stripped in 1897. In 1980, the Indiana legislature recognized the Eastern Miami and voted to support federal recognition.^[5] Senator Richard Lugar introduced a bill to recognize the Eastern Miami, but withdrew support due to concerns over gambling rights.^[6] On 26 July 1993, a federal judge ruled that the Eastern Miami were recognized in the 1854 treaty, and that the federal government had no right to strip them of their status in 1897. However, he also ruled that the statute of limitations had expired, and the Miami no longer had any right to sue.^[7]

[edit] Places named for the Miami

A number of places have been named for the Miami nation:

It should be noted that Miami, Florida, is not named for the Miami nation, but rather the Mayaimi tribe of Florida.

The state soil of Indiana is called Miami, giving unexpected depth to the term Land of the Indians.

[edit] Notable Miami

Little Turtle (Mishikinakwa), 18th century war chief
Pacanne, 18th century chief
Jean Baptiste de Richardville (Peshewa), 19th century chief
Frances Slocum (Maconaquah), adopted member of the Miami tribe
William Wells (Apekonit), adopted member of the Miami tribe

[edit] Notes

^ Anson, Bert (2000). The Miami Indians, p. 13. University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 0806131977.
^ "Vincennes, Sieur de (Jean Baptiste Bissot)," The Encyclopedia Americana (Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1990), 28:130.
^ Sisson, Richard; Zacher, Christian; and Cayton, Andrew (eds.) (2007). The American Midwest: An Interpretive Encyclopedia, p. 1749. Indiana University Press. ISBN 0253348862.
^ Rafert, Stewart (1996). The Miami Indians of Indiana: A Persistent People. 1654-1994, p. xxv. Indiana Historical Society. ISBN 0-87195-111-8.
^ Rafert, p. 291.
^ Rafert, p. 292.
^ Rafert, p. 293.