Ponca

The Ponca are a North American Indian people of the Dhegihazweig the Sioux language family, which also includes the Kansa, Omaha, Osage and Quapaw belong. In the 16th century, they separated themselves from the Omaha and settled along the Niobrara River and Ponca Creek in today's U.S. states of Nebraska and South Dakota. Their livelihood was the horticultural and hunting buffalo. Today there are two federally recognized ( federal recognized) tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

Residential areas

Under the pressure of white immigrants the Ponca moved westward from the Atlantic coast, after they had previously lived in Virginia, North and South Carolina. The early history of the tribe is identical to that of the other strains of this group. After the joint migration of the entire group to the mouth of the Osage River they separated. The Quapaw moved south, the Osage remained there, the Kansa migrated northwest up the Missouri River, while the Omaha and Ponca they turned directly to the north. They moved into what is now Minnesota, where they lived until the late 16th century. Then, these two tribes of wandering Dakota were pushed further to the west. They separated in today's South Dakota, the Omaha moved on to the Bow Creek in present-day Nebraska, while the Ponca settled at the mouth of the Niobrara in Missouri. 1673 they appear for the first time on a map Jacques Marquette. From their tribal traditions show that they had previously lived east of the Mississippi.

Culture

Like other Plains tribes combined the Ponca agriculture with hunting. They lived in fixed villages with dome-shaped mud huts while they moved in the spring and autumn with portable tipis in the hunting season, in which they hunted bison, deer and antelope. The hairstyle of the warrior consisted of a hair comb on clean-shaven head, as it was common practice in the southern Siouxstämmen. The social organization of Ponca consisted of a class system with chiefs, priests, doctors and councilors. The social status was inherited in the male line, but an individual could improve his personal status through the acquisition of horses and ceilings or the organization of festivities.

History

1789 was the fur trader Juan Baptiste Munier an exclusive license to the fur trade with the Pawnee on the Niobrara River. He established a trading post at the mouth of the Niobrara in Missouri, a place where at that time 800 Ponca lived. Shortly thereafter, she was invading a smallpox epidemic and the arrival of the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804, this met there to only 200 tribesmen.

1858 signed the Ponca signed a contract in which they issued some of their tribal land against a protected area on the Niobrara River. 1865 them a reserve was assured in their home country on the Niobrara, but after a tragic bureaucratic error got the Dakota assigned to the country, and the Ponca were forcibly relocated to Indian Territory. The strain was overall living conditions unbearable and the Ponca were suffering from malaria at once, the hot climate and hunger, so that within the first year a quarter of them died. They moved under their chief Standing Bear walking 600 miles ( 965 km ) north to eastern Nebraska, where they found asylum in Omaha. There they were captured by soldiers, but after a sponsored white sympathizers trial and through the use of a young Omahafrau named Susette La Flesche they were released. 1879 Standing Bear sat in court successfully for the rights of the Indians a. 1881 26.326 acres ( 106.5 km ²) of land in the Fort Knox County were returned to the Ponca in Nebraska and about half of the members of the tribe moved back north to the Niobrara River, while the rest remained in Oklahoma. The tribe shrank further in 1966 and was officially considered extinct. In the 1970s, there were attempts to recognize as the root Ponca and again on 31 October 1990, she was with the Ponca Restoration Bill ( Ponca Restoration Act) officially re a tribe.

Current situation

Living in Oklahoma tribal members organized in 1950 a tribal government under the guidelines of 1936 issued Oklahoma Indian Welfare Act. They received in the same year the federal recognition under the name of Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

In 1990, the Ponca were living in Nebraska under the name Ponca Tribe of Nebraska also recognized federally. As a result, the relations between the two tribal parts improved. One of the most common projects is the revival and preservation of the language and cultural traditions.

The Ponca Tribe of Nebraska has its seat of government in Niobrara, Nebraska. The Tribal Council shall be composed of the chairman, his deputy, the secretary, the treasurer and three council members who are elected for three years.

The seat of government of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma is located in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The Tribal Council is composed of the chairman, his deputy, a secretary / treasurer and four council members together and is elected for four years.

The U.S. census in 2000 counted a total of 4,858 tribal members, of which 258 Nebraska Ponca, 167 Oklahoma Ponca Ponca and 4433.