Miami tribe

The Miami are a Native American tribe originally found in Indiana and Ohio. Miami University in Oxford, Ohio is named after the Miami tribe.

Miami language

The Miami language, recently sleeping, is a member of the Algonquian phylum. It forms a dialect continuum with Illinois and is part of a larger Central and Plains sprachbund. Language reclamation efforts, officially underway since 1995, are making good progress.

History of the Miami tribe

Prehistory

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

Early 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 due to 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
Piankeshaw (Newcalenous)
Wea (Ouiatenon)

The name 'Miami' derives from the tribe's name for themselves in their own language, Myaamia (plural Myaamiaki). Some sources say that the Miami called themselves the Twightwee (also spelled Twatwa), an onomatopeic reference to their sacred bird, the crane. However, "Twightwee" appears to in fact be a Delaware 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.

The French Period

In 1696, the Comte de Frontenac appointed Jean Baptiste Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes as commander of the French outposts in Northeast Indiana. 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."Vincennes, Sieur de (Jean Baptiste Bissot)," The Encyclopedia Americana (Danbury, CT: Grolier, 1990), 28:130.

British & American period

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, and also saw the creation of larger tribal confederacies as Native Americans allied both to participate in European wars and to fight advancing white settlement. By the end of the century, the tribal divisions were:

Eel River
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 was to prove beneficial in the removals of the nineteenth century. The nation's traditional capital was Kekionga, which is located within the borders of the present city of Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Notes

Miami tribe | Native American tribes

Miami (Volk) | Miami (poble)