Web Page

Emergence of Historic Tribes

Activities: 1500-1799: Emergence of Historic Tribes - Grade Level [4-12]

1600 Native Tribes Return to the Plains

1600 CE was a pivotal time in the history of Nebraska,and there are at least two compelling stories to tell.

1. First, this is a story of the migration of prehistoric tribal groups out of the plains and back. Around 1400 CE , most of the people who had been living in what would become Nebraska were forced to move away, probably because drought conditions made ... Read more

Web Page

Native American Citizenship

Activities: 1900-1924: Native American Citizenship - Grade Level [4-12]

Key Dates in the History of Relations between the United States and Native American Tribes.
NET Learning Service

U.S. Indian Policy Timeline

Key Policy Milestones – 1900-1924

• Between 1900 & 1910 Winters Doctrine
• Late 1920s Snyder Act
• 1924 Indian Citizenship Act
• Late 1940s Indian Claims Commission
• Mid 1970s PL93-638 Indian Self Determination Act

It is easy for most of us to become a citizen of the United States. For most U.S. citizens, ... Read more

Web Page

Dismal River Culture

The archaeological record in western and central Nebraska suggests that Native American people migrated to the region somewhere around 1675 CE. We think they came from further west and north. Archaeologists have found evidence of these people and named the culture after where the sites were discovered in the 1930s — along the Dismal River in the Nebraska sand hills. Dismal River Cultural sites also have been excavated in the Republican River basin. So, the Dismal River cultural complex occupied ... Read more

Web Page

Long History of Treaties

From 1778 to 1871, the U.S. federal government tried to determine its relationship with the various Native tribes by creating treaties. There were hundreds of these treaties, which were formal agreements between two independent nations. So Native American people were citizens of their tribe, living within the boundaries of the U.S. The Native tribes would give up their rights to hunt and live on huge pieces of land in exchange for trade goods, yearly cash payments, and promises that no ... Read more

Web Page

The Trial of Standing Bear

Introduction

Activities: 1875-1899: Trial of Standing Bear - Grade Level [4-12]

Imagine yourself living in 1875. You’re living on a small, but beautiful part of the country between the Niobrara and Missouri Rivers. Just to the south, the new state of Nebraska is less than 10 years old.

For years, you have moved and been moved from one place to another. Then a United State government Indian inspector informs you that you have to move again — and you have to move ... Read more

Web Page

Taking Indian Land

Between 1825 and 1892 in Nebraska, there were a series of 18 different treaties between Native American tribes and the U.S. government in which Indians gave up their land. Nationally, there were hundreds of treaties. These treaties were important because each made it legally possible for the United States to make land available to settlers. The treaties of the early 1800s (and later) made the settlements of the 1870s possible.

The map below is linked to the actual text of the ... Read more

Web Page

The Oto & Missouria

The Oto tribe gave this state its name, but they were not native to the region. "Nebraska" is an Oto word that means "flat water." Like migrant groups before and after, the Oto immigrated to the Central Plains from the east, just ahead of the Europeans.

The earliest mention of the Oto and Missouria tribes in the European historical record dates from the late 1600s. The Missouria were then in central Missouri and the Oto were in central Iowa. The Otos ... Read more

Web Page

The Omaha & Ponca Tribes

The Omaha and Ponca Native American tribes are closely related. Both tribes speak a language called the Dhegiha division of the Siouan linguistic stock. They speak a similar language to that spoken by several tribes who lived further south during the historic period, the Osage, Kansa and Quapaw tribes.

These are the Native American tribes mentioned in early Nebraskan historic records from roughly 1770 to 1850 CE.

These language facts and the historical stories told within the tribes suggest that all of ... Read more

Web Page

Mackay, the Otos & Omaha

In the late 1700s, Spanish officials in St. Louis decided to expand their trade up the Missouri. To do that they needed to protect the river from incursions from competitors and they needed to build a series of fortified trading posts. In the 1790s Spain began patrolling the Missouri and Mississippi rivers with gunboats. The boats were called galiots (pronounced gah-le-OATs) were about fifty feet long and armed with cannons. A galiot could usually be rowed or sailed by their ... Read more

Web Page

Villasur Sent to Nebraska

In the early 1700s, Spain claimed as their exclusive territory most of the Central Plains including Nebraska. They were very concerned with protecting their rights to what they saw as a potentially enormous trade with the Native Americans on the plains. But it had been a Frenchman, Bourgmont, who had reached the Platte first and who named it. And the Spanish in New Mexico were seeing more and more evidence of French trade with tribes like the Apache, ... Read more

Web Page

Earth Lodges and Tipis

Before Christopher Columbus’ discovery of the "New World," Native Americans living in Nebraska lived in villages made up of small numbers of earth lodges, usually square in shape. Large wooden posts were placed upright in the ground and supported a framework of smaller logs. Then this was covered with grass and earth which provided shelter from the weather.

Nebraska Indian tribes, such as the Pawnee, Oto, Ponca, and Omaha, also lived in earth lodges that were round in shape and made ... Read more

Web Page

The Pawnee and the Lakota Sioux

The Pawnee was one of the earliest Native American tribes to be described in the European historical record, and they were one of the largest groups to live and roam across the territory. Their name most likely comes from a Pawnee word for horn which was “Pariki” or “Parrico” and was in reference to the way they fashioned their hair to look to have a horn or horns. The French explorers recorded the term as “Pani” as eastern native groups ... Read more

Web Page

Conflicts Among the Tribes & Settlers

There were many Native American tribes living on the Great Plains, competing for scarce resources. Of course, the various tribes came into conflict with each other.

The Lakota (or Sioux) is actually a broad group of people that includes the seven bands of the Western (or Teton) Lakota, the Dakota (Yankton and Yanktoni) and the Nakota (Santee). This group of tribes lived in the Plains for only a part of their known history. The Lakotas originally lived in the northern woodlands. ... Read more

Web Page

Redbird & Oneota Cultures

The Redbird culture in northeastern Nebraska left an archaeological record that is similar to the Lower Loup culture, but Redbird sites were smaller villages and we find slightly different pottery styles at these sites.

Ponca and Omaha oral history suggests that the Redbird people immigrated into northeastern Nebraska about 1700 CE. Some archaeologists agree and maintain that the evidence shows that the Redbird culture descended into the Ponca. However, other archaeologists feel they are more likely ancestral to the ... Read more

Web Page

First Farmers

Activities: Pre-1500: Nebraska's First Farmers - Grade Level [4-12]

One Thousand Years Ago

"Which came first — the chicken or the egg?"

This is an age-old question that may not have a good answer. Neither may this question:

"Which came first — farming or a major increase in the Native American population during the Plains Woodland period?"

On the one hand, farming gave the native peoples a better way to feed themselves. On the other hand, more people were needed to maintain the ... Read more