Otoe tribe

The Oto, Otoe also written, are a North American Indian people of the Chiwere branch of the Siouan language family, which also includes the Missouri and Iowa are.

History

The entire Chiwere group lived together with the Winnebago in the Great Lakes region. Even before the arrival of white immigrants, they moved to the southwest. In the area of ​​Green Bay in Wisconsin, they separated from the Winnebago, while the rest of the group moved on to the Mississippi. When they were visited in 1673 by the Jacques- Marquette expedition, they lived upstream on the River in present-day Moines Iowa. At the mouth of the Iowa River, they split again, the Iowa stayed there and the other two groups walked on. They reached the Missouri at the mouth of the Grand River and decided to stay there. They called themselves Neutache, but were called by the whites Missouri. After a dispute between the chiefs of both groups, the Oto separated and moved further up the Missouri. They called themselves now Waghtochtatta, among whites they were called Oto. Around 1760 they inhabited and together with some dugouts Missouri a village on the west bank of the Platte River near the confluence of the Elkhorn River.

In July 1804 there were, according to Lewis and Clark near the mouth of the Platte River in Missouri, where they held a council together with the white explorers. The area on the Missouri is still called The Council Bluffs ( The consulting bluffs ), now a borough of the city of Omaha in Nebraska.

In 1830 the Oto entered their land in Missouri and Iowa from the United States. Finally they sold in 1854 their last country in Kansas and Nebraska and moved into a reserve at the Blue River, near the border between Nebraska and Kansas. Here they remained until 1882, when they had to move together with the Missouri to Indian Territory.

Culture

Like other Plains tribes combined the Oto agriculture with hunting. Their gardens they put on in the fertile soil of the river bank. They lived in fixed villages with dome-shaped mud huts and moved in spring and autumn with portable tipis on the hunt for bison, deer and pronghorn. The social organization of Oto was designed and consisted of a class system with chiefs, priests, doctors and councilors. Social class was inherited in the male line, but an individual could improve his status through the acquisition of horses and ceilings or the organization of festivities.

There were nine clans, who were divided into two, the earth and the sky embodying groups. Erdclans had the task of aligning war and food procurement ceremonies, while sky clan looked after the ceremonies for supernatural assistance. If the whole tribe encamped near the bison hunting in the summer or on the hike, the tipis were arranged in a large circle, which symbolized the tribal organization. The search for mystical visions was one of the main male rites. Lewis and Clark reported that the Oto were dressed only in a loin cloth and wore around his shoulders a blanket or a hand-painted buffalo robe. They also observed a musical instrument consisting of a saw-shaped piece of wood over which a smaller stick was rubbed vigorously back and forth.

Demography

At the end of the 18th century, more than 1,000 Oto lived in several villages along the Platte River in Nebraska. Through devastating smallpox epidemics and frequent military expeditions to the tribal size decreased significantly. Lewis and Clark gave their number in 1805, only about 500 tribal members in 1833 reported George Catlin of 1,200 members (including some Missouri), the Indian report of 1843 ( with Missouri ) mentions 931 and 1906 were finally only 390 tribe members counted. Today several hundred Oto live in Oklahoma and are members of the Native American Church. The census of 2000 showed 1,470 Oto and Missouri, and the tribal headquarters of the Otoe - Missouria state recognized Tribe of Oklahoma is Red Rock, Oklahoma.