Total population | |
---|---|
6,563 in 2010 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
United States( Wisconsin) | |
Languages | |
English, Ho-Chunk | |
Religion | |
traditional tribal religion, Native American Church | |
Related ethnic groups | |
other Ho-Chunk people, Otoe, Iowa, and Missouria people |
The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, in the United States, formerly known as the Wisconsin Winnebago Tribe, is one of two federally recognized tribes that were once a single tribe formerly known as Winnebago. The other federally recognized tribe is the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. The tribe separated when its members were forcibly relocated first to a reservation in Minnesota, and later to the current reservation in Nebraska. The name Ho-Chunk comes from the word Hochungra, meaning "People of the Big Voice" or "People of the Sacred Language."
The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin, while it has no official reservation, has parcels of land placed in Trust as Indian Trust Land as designated by the federal government, Secretary of the Interior and Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) spread over Dane, Jackson, Juneau, Monroe, Sauk, Shawano, and Wood counties, Wisconsin. In 1990, the land designated as trust land was 4,200 acres (17 km2) in size.
The Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin is headquartered in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. With the adoption of its most recent constitution in 1994, which restored the tribes name from the Wisconsin Winnebago back to its own name for itself, the Ho-Chunk Nation, the modern tribal government structured itself after the federal and state governments, with executive, legislative and judicial branches. All of the tribe's members make up the fourth branch of government, the general council. The current administration is as follows.
The Ho-Chunk Nation speak English and the Ho-Chunk language, which is a Chiwere-Winnebago language, part of the Siouan-Catawban language family.