View source for Missouria

{{short description|Native American tribe}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Missouria
| native_name      = Nutachi
| population       = fewer than 1,393<ref name="ok.gov">Oklahoma Indian Affairs. [http://www.ok.gov/oiac/Publications/index.html Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090211145522/http://www.ok.gov/oiac/Publications/index.html |date=11 February 2009 }} 2008: 24. (retrieved 16 July 2009)</ref>
| popplace         = United States ([[Oklahoma]], previously [[Missouri]])
| rels             = [[Christianity]] (Protestant and Roman Catholic), [[Native American Church]]
| langs            = [[English language|English]], formerly [[Chiwere language|Chiwere]]
| related          = [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]], [[Iowa people|Iowa]], and [[Ho-Chunk]]
}}
{{Infobox ethnonym|person= |people= Niútachi|language= [[Chiwere language|Niútachi ich'é]],<br/>[[Plains Indian Sign Language|Hand Talk]]|country=Niútachi Máyaⁿ}} 
The '''Missouria''' or '''Missouri''' (in their own language, '''Nutachi''', also spelled '''Niutachi''') are a [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] tribe that originated in the [[Great Lakes]] region of what is now the United States before European contact.<ref name="ohs">May, John D. [https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=OT001 "Otoe-Missouria"] ''Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture.'' 2009. Accessed March 16, 2024.</ref> The tribe belongs to the [[Chiwere]] division of the [[Siouan languages|Siouan]] language family, together with the [[Ho-Chunk]], [[Iowa people|Iowa]], and [[Otoe]].<ref name=ohs/>

Throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, the tribe lived in bands near the mouth of the [[Grand River (Missouri)|Grand River]] at its confluence with the [[Missouri River]], near the mouth of the Missouri at its confluence with the [[Mississippi River]], and in what is now [[Saline County, Missouri]]. Since [[Indian removal]], they live primarily in [[Oklahoma]]. They are [[federally recognized]] as the [[Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians]], headquartered in [[Red Rock, Oklahoma]].

==Name==
French colonists adapted a form of the [[Illinois language]]-name for the people: ''Wimihsoorita'', which translates as "One who has dugout canoes".<ref>McCafferty, Michael. 2004. [http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/american_speech/v079/79.1mccafferty.html "Correction: Etymology of Missouri"], ''American Speech,'' 79.1:32</ref> In their own Siouan language, the Missouri call themselves ''Nutachi'', also spelled ''Niutachi'', meaning "People of the River Mouth."<ref>{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.omtribe.org/who-we-are/history/ |access-date=2025-09-21 |website=The Otoe-Missouria Tribe |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>Pritzker, 337</ref> The [[Osage Nation|Osage]] called them the ''Waçux¢a,'' and the [[Quapaw]] called them the Wa-ju'-xd¢ǎ.<ref>[http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/missouri/ Missouri Indian Tribes.] ''Access Genealogy: Indian Tribal Records.'' (retrieved 23 February 2009)</ref>

The state of Missouri and the Missouri River are named for the tribe.

==History==
=== 16th century ===
[[File:Van-meter-fort.jpg|thumb|360px|Remains of the Missouria [[Old Fort (Miami, Missouri)|Old Fort]] earthworks (1400–1752 CE) at [[Van Meter State Park]]]]
The tribe's [[oral tradition|oral history]] tells that they once lived north of the [[Great Lakes]], where they were part of a larger tribe that included the [[Ho-Chunk]], [[Iowa people|Iowa]], and [[Otoe]].<ref name=ohs/> They began migrating south in the 16th century.<ref name=ohs/>

=== 17th century ===
The beginning of the 17th century, the Missouria lived near the confluence of the [[Grand River (Missouri)|Grand]] and [[Missouri River|Missouri]] rivers, where they settled through the 18th century. Later, their oral history says that they split from the Otoe tribe, which belongs to the same Chiwere branch of the Siouan language, because of a love affair between the children of two tribal chiefs.<ref name=p338>Pritzer, 338</ref>

The 17th century brought hardships to the Missouria. The [[Sauk people|Sauk]] and [[Meskwaki]] frequently attacked them. Their society was even more disrupted by the high fatalities from epidemics of [[smallpox]] and other Eurasian [[infectious disease]]s that accompanied contact with Europeans. The French explorer [[Jacques Marquette]] contacted the tribe in 1673 and paved the way for trade with the French.<ref name=p338/>

=== 18th century ===
[[File:Bodmer Missouria Otoe Ponca Indians.jpg|thumb|360px|Mahinkacha ('Maker of Knives'), a Missouria warrior on the left, painting by [[Karl Bodmer]] based on sketches from 1833–1834<ref>{{cite web |title=BODMER, Karl (1809-1893) Oto Indian / Missouri Indian / Chief of the Puncas |url=https://www.donaldheald.com/pages/books/15539/karl-bodmer/oto-indian-missouri-indian-chief-of-the-puncas |website=Donald A. Heald |access-date=16 March 2024}}</ref>]]
The Missouria migrated west of the Missouri River into [[Osage Nation|Osage]] territory. During this time, they acquired horses and hunted [[American bison|bison]]. The French explorer [[Étienne de Veniard, Sieur de Bourgmont]] visited the people in the early 1720s. He married the daughter of a Missouria chief. They settled nearby, and Veniard created alliances with the people. He built [[Fort Orleans]] in 1723 as a trading post near present-day [[Brunswick, Missouri]]. It was occupied until 1726.

In 1730, an attack by the Sauk and Meskwaki tribes nearly destroyed the Missouria, killing hundreds. Most survivors reunited with the Otoe, while some joined the Osage and [[Kaw people|Kansa]]. After a smallpox outbreak in 1829, fewer than 100 Missouria survived, and they all joined the Otoe.<ref name=p338/>

=== 19th century ===
They signed treaties with the US government in 1830 and 1854 to cede their lands in Missouri.  They relocated to the Otoe-Missouria reservation, created on the [[Big Blue River (Kansas)|Big Blue River]] at the Kansas-Nebraska border. The US pressured the two tribes into ceding more lands in 1876 and 1881.<ref name=p338/>

In 1880, the tribes split into two factions, the Coyote, who were traditionalists, and the Quakers, who were [[Americanization (of Native Americans)|assimilationists]]. The Coyote settled on the Iowa Reservation in [[Indian Territory]]. The Quakers negotiated a small separate reservation in Indian Territory. By 1890, most of the Coyote band rejoined the Quakers on their reservation.

=== 20th century ===
Under the [[Dawes Act]], by 1907 members of the tribes were registered and allotted individual plots of land per household. The U.S. declared any excess communal land of the tribe as "surplus" and sold it to European-American settlers. The tribe merged with the Otoe tribe.<ref name=p338/>

The [[Curtis Act]] disbanded tribal courts and governmental institutions to assimilate Native people into mainstream American society and prepare Indian Territory for statehood, but the tribe created their own court system in 1900. The Missouria were primarily farmers in the early 20th century. After oil was discovered on their lands in 1912, the U.S. government forced many of the tribe off their allotments.<ref name=p338/>

=== 21st century ===
Today, Missouri are part of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians. They hold the Otoe-Missouria encampment each July and host social dances and ceremonies at the Otoe-Missouria Cultural Center<ref name=ohs/> in Red Rock, Oklahoma.

==Population==
According to the ethnographer [[James Mooney]], the population of the tribe was about 200 families in 1702; 1000 people in 1780; 300 in 1805; 80 in 1829, when they were living with the [[Otoe tribe|Otoe]]; and 13 in 1910. Since then, their population numbers are combined with those of the Otoe.

==Notable people==
[[Truman Washington Dailey]]

==Notes==
{{Reflist}}

==References==
* Pritzker, Barry M. ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples''. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000. {{ISBN|978-0-19-513877-1}}
* {{Cite book |title=The people of the river's mouth: in search of the Missouria Indians |last=Dickey |first=Michael |date=2011 |publisher=University of Missouri Press |isbn=9780826272447 |location=Columbia, Mo. |oclc=781854373}}

==External links==
{{AmCyc Poster|Missouris}}
* [http://www.accessgenealogy.com/native/missouri/ History of Missouri Indian Tribes], Access Genealogy, extracts for Missouria from John R. Swanton, ''The Indian Tribes of North America,'' Bureau of American Ethnology, ''Bulletin 145,'' Washington, DC: US Government Printing Office, 1953.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20060202000520/http://native.brokenclaw.net/otoe/om_genealogy.html Otoe-Missouria Genealogy]
*{{Cite NSRW|wstitle=Missouris|short=x}}
*{{Cite NIE|wstitle=Missouri (tribe)|display=Missouri. A small tribe of Siouan stock|short=x}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-1-when-the-osage-missouria-reigned/ |title=The Tribes of Missouri Part 1: When the Osage & Missouria Reigned |last=Soodalter |first=Ron |date=1 August 2018 |website=Missouri Life |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314073625/https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-1-when-the-osage-missouria-reigned/ |archive-date=14 March 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2019}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-2/ |title=The Tribes of Missouri Part 2: Things Fall Apart |last=Soodalter |first=Ron |date=6 September 2018 |website=Missouri Life |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314073801/https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-2/ |archive-date=14 March 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2019}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-3/ |title=The Tribes of Missouri Part 3: Homecoming |last=Soodalter |first=Ron |date=8 October 2018 |website=Missouri Life |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314074127/https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-3/ |archive-date=14 March 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2019}}
*{{Cite web |url=https://missourilife.com/the-otoe-missouria-tribe-today/ |title=The Otoe-Missouria Tribe Today |last=Soodalter |first=Ron |date=5 October 2018 |website=Missouri Life |language=en-US |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190314074127/https://missourilife.com/the-tribes-of-missouri-part-3/ |archive-date=14 March 2019 |url-status=live |access-date=14 March 2019}}

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{{Native Americans in Nebraska}}
{{Native American Tribes in Oklahoma}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Siouan peoples]]
[[Category:Great Lakes tribes]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Missouri]]
[[Category:Native American tribes in Oklahoma]]
[[Category:Algonquian ethnonyms]]