Native Americans of Kansas

Long before Kansas was a state there were a nice number of Native American tribes that called this land their home. These Native Americans were the Arapaho, Comanche, Kanza, Kiowa, Osage, and Pawnee.

In 1820 the U.S. Government permanently made which is now Kansas “Indian Territory” and was closed off to whites. Also the government began to resettle Native Americans already in Kansas so they could make room for the Native Americans coming from east of the Mississippi River. The Indian Removal Act of 1830 gave the government authority to designate specific Western lands for settlement by Indians removed from their native lands and the Indian Intercourse Act of 1834, specifically set aside Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma as the Indian Territory. Numerous tribes began to be moved westward. Some eastern and midwestern tribes signed treaties agreeing to move onto reservations in Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Kansas in exchange for undisputed ownership of the new lands. So, Native American tribes that were removed from their homeland and relocated to Kansas were Cherokee, Chippewa, Delaware, Ioway, Otoe, Kickapoo, Miami, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Sac and Fox, Seneca, Shawnee, and Wyandot.

The land in Kansas and Nebraska is so fertile that they eventually re-designated it back to a territory and that means that it reopened to white people. At that point most of the Native Americans that came to Kansas and were native to Kansas had to move to Oklahoma in late 19th century where many still live today. Even with that there were still four tribes that stayed in Kansas. The tribes were The Kickapoo Tribe of Kansas in Horton, Kansas, Ioway Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska in White Cloud, Kansas, Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Mayetta,Kansas, and Sac and Fox Nation in Brown County, Kansas.

In this grove of hardwood trees on August 10, 1825 three United States commissioners met with chiefs of the big and little bands of the Osage tribe. Eventually the Americans and Indians made an agreement allowing American settlers safe passage along the Santa Fe Trail in exchange for 800 dollars in trade goods. One of the commissioner suggested in his journal that we should name the place Council Grove which was later agreed on.

Works Cited

"Native Americans of Kansas." Native Americans of Kansas. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

<http://www.legendsofkansas.com/nativeamericans.html>

"The Place - The Grove and Other Features." The Place - The Grove and Other Features. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Jan. 2016.

<http://www.kawmission.org/places/kawmission/theplacegrove.htm>