Otoe
The Otoe, also known as the Otoe-Missouria, are a Native American tribe primarily located in Oklahoma, with a population of approximately 3,300. Historically, they are believed to have originated in the upper Great Lakes region, where they lived alongside the Missouri, Iowa, and Winnebago nations before migrating westward due to various pressures. By the late 1600s, they settled in present-day Iowa and later moved further west, facing significant challenges from disease and warfare with rival tribes. By the mid-19th century, the Otoe-Missouria had ceded their lands to the United States and relocated to reservations in Oklahoma.
Culturally, the Otoe have adapted their traditions to the plains environment, with a subsistence lifestyle that included agriculture and hunting. They constructed substantial earth lodges for shelter and organized socially into clans with distinct roles. The Otoe-Missouria have maintained their cultural practices, including ceremonies and traditional dances, despite historical pressures. They have also re-engaged with their language and culture through educational initiatives. In recent years, the tribe has leveraged gaming revenues to invest in various economic ventures, all while striving to preserve their heritage and community identity.
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Oto
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Plains
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Siouan
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Oklahoma
- POPULATION SIZE: 3,300 (Otoe-Missouria, 2024)
Otoe (or Oto) tradition indicates that the people lived at one time with the Missouri, Iowa, and Winnebago nations somewhere in the upper Great Lakes region. Probably pushed by other Indigenous nations squeezed from the east, they began moving west and south, perhaps in the 1500s, leaving the Winnebago in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area and the Iowa people at the confluence of the Mississippi and Iowa rivers. The Otoe and Missouri continued south along the Mississippi and west along the Missouri until reaching the confluence of the Missouri and Grand Rivers. At this point, there was a conflict between the two groups involving a romantic relationship between the Missouri chief’s daughter and the Otoe chief’s son. Consequently, the Otoe continued west along the Missouri while the Missouri people remained. This conflict explains the Otoe Indigenous name, originating from the Chiwere word wahtohtata, meaning “lovers” or “lechers.” (The Otoe and Missouri shared the Chiwere language with the Iowa.)
In the late 1600s, the Otoe lived in what is now the state of Iowa, on the Upper Iowa and the Blue Earth Rivers, but they were not numerous. Their population at that point was probably about 800. For most of the eighteenth century, they lived further west, along the Platte River near its mouth at the Missouri River. The Otoe benefited from trade with the French and, later, the Americans but were also devastated by disease and warfare brought by these outsiders. Their rivals in warfare were mainly the Sauk, Pawnee, and Meskwaki (Fox). The Pawnees, at times, dominated the Otoe's militarily.
By 1829, the Otoe and Missouria had merged, both having suffered greatly and having had their populations shrink from smallpox and other diseases. The following decades were difficult, as they and other beleaguered Indigenous nations fought for scant food resources. By 1854, the Otoe-Missouria had ceded all of their lands to the United States and moved to a reservation on the Big Blue River near the Kansas and Nebraska territories. Eventually, one faction split off and moved to Indian Territory (Oklahoma) in 1880. A decade later, the rest followed them. In 1907, the Oklahoma reservation was allotted to individual Indigenous nation members.
Otoe culture of the pre-reservation era reflected an adaptation to a plains environment from the eastern woodlands. While women cultivated corn, beans, squash, and melons in the bottomlands along the rivers, men spent much time hunting. Major buffalo hunts were carried on in the spring and fall, with deer, turkey, raccoon, and rabbit hunting occupying other times. While on hunting trips, the Otoe stored their food in underground bell-shaped caches and used skin tepees for shelter. Their villages, however, were quite substantial. Depending on the population of a village, there were forty to seventy earth lodges thirty to forty feet in diameter. Each lodge had a heavy wooden framework filled in with brush and grass and covered with an outer layer of earth or clay. Villages were divided socially into clans, each representing several related extended households. Otoe society was patrilineal (one belonged to one’s father’s clan), but the women owned the lodges and all other household property. Different clans were responsible for various seasonal celebrations or leadership for particular hunts, and clan chiefs, war chiefs, and spiritual leaders were hereditarily chosen. Curing societies and dance societies, such as the Medicine Lodge and the Buffalo Doctors Lodge, specialized in particular ceremonies necessary for communication with the spiritual world. Mourning practices were highly ritualized, sometimes involving the killing of a horse so that the deceased person could ride to the afterlife.
Throughout the late 1880s, the Otoe-Missouria watched as the US government sold their reservation lands. In 1955, the Indigenous nation sued the US government, claiming they had not been paid a fair price for their lands, and won over one million dollars. Although the loss of their homeland and reservation resulted in some acculturation, the Otoe-Missouria nation still has some Indigenous-owned land in Oklahoma, which they won rights to in court in the 1960s. Most of the 3,300 members live around this land in Red Rock, Oklahoma. They hold ceremonies and traditional dances each year. Otoe-Missouria children started in the 1970s learning their Chiwere language in school, with the aid of a published grammar of the Chiwere language. Although considered one of the smaller Oklahoman tribes, the Otoe-Missouria have garnered revenue from gaming, which they then invested in natural resource development, private enterprises, and entertainment projects. The Otoe-Missouria have embraced the modern world with their continued investment in retail, hospitality, and financial ventures while preserving their cultural traditions.
Bibliography
Curtis, Edward S., et al. The Northern American Indian: Being a Series of Volumes Picturing and Describing the Indians of the United States and Alaska. Vol 1. Christopher Cardozo Fine Art, 2014.
Davis, Mary B. Native America in the Twentieth Century: An Encyclopedia. Vol. 452. Routledge, 2014.
"History." The Otoe-Missouria Tribe, www.omtribe.org/who-we-are/history. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
Hudson, Katelin. "Otoe-Missouria Tribe." The University of Oklahoma Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication, www.ou.edu/gaylord/exiled-to-indian-country/content/otoe-missouria. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.
Luebering, J. E. Native American History. Britannica Educational, 2011.
May, Jon D. "The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Otoe-Missouria." Oklahoma Historical Society, www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry.php?entry=OT001. Accessed 1 Apr. 2023.
"Otoe-Missouria Culture." The Otoe-Missouria Tribe, www.omtribe.org/who-we-are/culture. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.