Apache (probably from ápachu, 'enemy,' the Zuñi name for the Navaho, who were designated "Apaches de Nabaju" by the early Spaniards in New Mexico). A number of tribes forming the most southerly group of the Athapascan family.

12 files, last one added on Dec 01, 2006

An important Plains tribe of the great Algonquian family, closely associated with the Cheyenne for at least a century past. They call themselves Iñunaina, about equivalent to 'our people.' The name by which they are commonly known is of uncertain derivation.

6 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Bannock ( from Panátǐ, their own name). A Shoshonean tribe whose habitat previous to being gathered on reservations can not be definitely Outlined. The home of the chief division appears to have been south east Idaho, whence they ranged into west Wyoming.

0 files

The tribes forming this group are the Siksika, or Blackfeet proper, the Piegan, and the Kainah, or Bloods. Closely allied and associated with these were the Atsina, a branch of the Arapaho, but who later became incorporated with the Assiniboin.

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Caddo (contracted from Kä'dohädä'cho, 'Caddo proper,' `real Caddo,' a leading tribe in the Caddo confederacy, extended by the whites to include the confederacy). A confederacy of tribes belonging to the southern group of the Caddoan linguistic family.

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Cayuse, A Waiilatpuan tribe formerly occupying the territory about the heads of Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Grande Ronde Rivers and from the Blue mountains to Deschutes River in Washington and Oregon. The tribe has always been closely associated with the neighboring Nez Percé and Walla Walla.

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Cherokee. A powerful detached tribe of the Iroquoian family, formerly holding the whole mountain region of the south Alleghenies, in southwest Virginia, western North Carolina and South Carolina, north Georgia, east Tennessee, and northeast Alabama, and claiming even to the Ohio River.

7 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

Cheyenne (from the Sioux name Sha-hi'yena, Shai-ena, or (Teton) Shai-ela, 'people of alien speech,' from sha'ia, 'to speak a strange language'). An important Plains tribe of the great Algonquian family. They call themselves Dzǐ'tsǐǐstäs, apparently nearly equivalent to 'people alike

3 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Chickasaw. An important Muskhogean tribe, closely related to the Choctaw in language and customs, although the two tribes were mutually hostile. Aside from tradition, the earliest habitat traceable for the Chickasaw is north Mississippi. Their villages in the 18th century centered about Pontotoc and Union counties,

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Chippewa (popular adaptation of Ojibway, 'to roast till puckered up,' referring, to the puckered seam on their moccasins; from ojib 'to pucker up,' ub-way 'to roast'). One of the largest tribes North of Mexico, whose range was formerly along both shores of Lake Huron and Superior, extending across Minnesota Turtle Mountains, North Dakota

15 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

Choctaw (possibly a corruption of the Spanish chcdu, 'flat' or 'flattened,' alluding to the custom of these Indians of flattening the head). An important tribe of the Muskhogean stock, formerly occupying middle and south Mississippi, their territory extending, in their most flourishing days, for some distance east of Tombigbee River, probably as far as Dallas County, Ga.

1 files, last one added on Jul 18, 2007

Comanche, One of the southern tribes of the Shoshonean stock, and the only one of that group living entirely on the plains. Their language and traditions show that they are a comparatively recent offshoot from the Shoshoni of Wyoming, both tribes speaking practically the same dialect and, until very recently, keeping up constant and friendly communication.

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Creek, A confederacy forming the largest division of the Muskhogean family. They received their name form the English on account of the numerous streams in their country. During early historic times the Creek occupied the greater portion of Alabama and Georgia, residing chiefly on Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers, the two largest tributaries of the Alabama river and on the Flint and Chattahoochee Rivers.

10 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

Crow (trans., through French gens des corbeaux, of their own name, Absároke, crow, sparrow hawk, or bird people). A Siouan tribe forming part of the Hidatsa group, their separation from the Hidatsa having taken place, as Matthews (1894) believed, within the last 200 years. Hayden, following their tradition, placed it about 1776. According to this story it was the result of a factional dispute between two chiefs.

6 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Dakota ('allies'). The largest division of the Siouan family, known commonly as Sioux, according to Hewitt a French Canadian abbreviation of the Chippewa Nadowe-is-iw, a diminutive of nadowe, 'an adder,' hence 'an enemy.' Nadoweisiw-eg is the diminutive plural.

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Delaware. A confederacy, formerly the most important of the Algonquian stock, occupying the entire basin of Delaware river in east Pennsylvania and south New York, together with most of New Jersey and Delaware. They called themselves Lenape or Leni-lenape, equivalent to 'real men,' or 'native, genuine men'

3 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

They lived between the Cascade Mountains and Rocky Mountains. The Salish (Flatheads) initially lived entirely east of the Continental Divide but established their headquarters near the eastern slope of the Rocky Mountains.

3 files, last one added on Jul 18, 2007

An Algonquian tribe, so named, according to Fox tradition recorded by Dr William Jones, because once while some Wagohugi, members of the Fox clan, were hunting, they met the French, who asked who they were; the Indians gave the name of their clan, and ever since the whole tribe has been known by the name of the Fox clan.

8 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

Hidatsa. A Siouan tribe living, since first known to the whites, in the vicinity of the junction of Knife river with the Missouri, North Dakota, in intimate connection with the Mandan and Arikara. Their language is closely akin to that of the Crows,

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Hopi (contraction of Hópitu, 'peaceful ones,' or Hópitu-shínumu, 'peaceful all people': their own name). A body of Indians, speaking a Shoshonean dialect, occupying 6 pueblos on a reservation of 2,472,320 acres in north east Arizona. The name "Moqui," or "Moki," by which they have been popularly known, means 'dead' in their own language

4 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

5 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

9 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Very little is to be found in the early writings regarding the appearance of the Iowa villages, but they probably did not differ from those of the tribes with whom they were so closely associated. Iowa and their kindred tribes had migrated from their ancient habitat in the vicinity of the Great Lakes to the Missouri Valley.

9 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

Kickapoo (from Kiwǐgapawa, 'he stands about,' Or 'he moves about, standing now here, now there'). A tribe of the central Algonquian group, forming a division with the Sauk and Foxes, with whom they have close ethnic and linguistic connection.

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Kiowa (from Gǎ'-i-gwŭ, or Kǎ'-i-gwŭ, 'principal people,' their own name). A tribe at one time residing about. the upper Yellowstone and Missouri, but better known as centering about the upper Arkansas and Canadian in Colorado and Oklahoma, and constituting, so far as present knowledge goes, a distinctl inguistie stock.

6 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

A Siouan tribe of the northwest. The name, according to Maximilian, originally given by the Sioux is believed by Matthews to be a corruption of the Dakota Mawatani. Previous to 1830 they called themselves Numakiki, 'people'. Hayden gives Miah'tanēs, ' people on the bank,' as the name they apply to themselves

4 files, last one added on Jul 22, 2007

Menominee (meno, by change from mino, 'good', 'beneficent'; min, a 'grain', 'seed', the Chippewa name of the wild rice. Hewitt. Full name Menominiwok ininiwok, the latter term signifying 'they are men').

2 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

A Lutuamian tribe, forming the southern division of that stock, in south west Oregon. The Modoc language is practically the same as the Klamath, the dialectic differences being extremely slight.

3 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Na'-va-ho, from Tewa Navahú, the name referring to a large area of cultivated lands; applied to a former Tewa pueblo, and, by extension, to the Navaho, known to the Spaniards of the 17th century as Apaches de Navajo, who intruded on the Tewa domain or who lived in the vicinity, to distinguish them front other "Apache" bands.

5 files, last one added on Dec 01, 2006

Nez Percé ('pierced noses') A term applied by the French to a number of tribes which practiced or were supposed to practice the custom of piercing the nose for the insertion of a piece of dentalium. The term is now used exclusively to designate the main tribe of the Shahaptian family, who have not, however, so far as is known ever been given to the practice.

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Omaha ('those going against the wind or current' ). One of the 5 tribes of the so called Dhegiha group of the Siouan family, the other 4 being the Kansa, Quapaw, Osage, and Ponca.

2 files, last one added on Jul 16, 2007

Osage (corruption by French traders of Wazhazhe, their own name). The most important southern Siouan tribe of the western division. Dorsey classed them, under the name Dhegiha, in one group with the Omaha, Ponca, Kansa, and Quapaw,

4 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

Ottawa (from adawe, to trade', 'to buy and sell,' a term common to the Cree, Algonkin, Nipissing, Montagnais, Ottawa, and Chippewa, and applied to the Ottawa because in early traditional times and also during the historic period they were noted among their neighbors as intertribal traders and barterers.

2 files, last one added on Jul 18, 2007

Oto (from Wat`ota, 'lechers'). One of the three Siouan tribes forming the Chiwere group, the others being the Iowa and Missouri. The languages differ but, slightly. The earliest reference to this tribe is found in the tradition which relates to the separation of the Chiwere group from the Winnebago.

3 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

Paiute. A term involved in great confusion. In common usage it has been applied at one time or another to most of the Shoshonean tribes of west Utah, northern Arizona, southern Idaho, eastern Oregon, Nevada, and eastern and southern California.

3 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Palouse. Significance unknown. Also called: Pallotepellows, by Lewis and Clark in 1806. Belonged to the Shahaptian division of the Shapwailutan linguistic stock, and were most closely connected with the Nez Perce.

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Pawnee. A confederacy belonging to the Caddoan family. The name is probably derived from parika, a horn, a term used to designate the peculiar manner of dressing the scalp-lock. The people called themselves Chahiksichahiks, `men of men.'

4 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

Pima ('no,' in the Nevome dialect, a word incorrectly applied through misunderstanding by the early missionaries. As popularly known, the name of a division of the Piman family living in the valleys of the Gila and Salt in south Arizona.

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

Potawatomi, J. B. Bottineau, gives Potawatanubñk or Potawaganiñk, i. e. 'People of the place of the fire,' as the primary form of the name. This derivation is strongly confirmed by the Huron name Asistagueroüon, for Otsistă'ge`roñnoñ', likewise signifying 'People of the place of fire,'

3 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

Sauk, Osā'kiwŭg, 'people of the outlet,' or, possibly, 'people of the yellow earth,' in contradistinction from the Muskwakiwuk, 'Red Earth People', a name of the Foxes. One of a number of Algonquian tribes whose earliest known habitat was eastern peninsula of Michigan

6 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

Seminole, Creek: Sim-a-no'-le, or Isti simanóle, 'separatist', 'runaway' They were at first classed with the Lower Creeks, but began to be known under their present name about 1775.

11 files, last one added on Jul 22, 2007

A prominent and influential tribe of the Iroquois (q. v.). When first known they occupied that part of west New York between Seneca lake and Geneva river, having their council fire at Tsonontowan, near Naples, in Ontario county.

3 files, last one added on Jul 16, 2007

Formerly a leading tribe of South Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. By reason of the indefinite character of their name, their wandering habits, their connection with other tribes, and interior position away from the traveled routes, the Shawnee were long a stumbling block in the way of investigators.

4 files, last one added on Jul 20, 2007

Shoshoni. The most northerly division of the Shoshonean family. The Snake River country in Idaho is to be considered their stronghold. The origin of the term Shoshoni appears to be unknown.

3 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

The most populous linguistic family North of Mexico, next to the Algonquian. The name is taken from a 'term applied to the largest and best known tribal group or confederacy belonging to the family, the Sioux or Dakota.

25 files, last one added on Jul 23, 2007

As knowledge of the traditions, manners, and national traits of the Indians, composing, originally, the six distinct and independent tribes of the Mohawks, Tuscarora, Onondagas, Seneca, Oneidas, and Cayuga; tribes now merged in, and known as, the Six Nations

2 files, last one added on Jul 22, 2007

A name applied to several small bodies of Salish on and near Spokane River, north east Washington. The name was originally employed by the Skitswish to designate a band at the forks of the river. Also called also Smahoomenaish by the whites.

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

An important Shoshonean division, related linguistically to the Paiute, Chemehuevi, Kawaiisu, and Bannock. They formerly occupied the entire central and west portions of Colorado and the east portion of Utah, including the east part of Salt Lake valley and Utah valley

2 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

The three tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation, the Wasco, the Walla Walla (later called the Warm Springs), and the Paiute, had developed societies beside the Columbia River.

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006

A confederacy of Caddoan stock, closely related linguistically to the Pawnee, and formerly ranging from about the middle Arkansas river, Kansas, southward to Brazos river, Texas.

1 files, last one added on Nov 30, 2006