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Miami Indians

Miami
Myaamiaki
Kee-món-saw, Little Chief, a Chief (George Catlin).jpg
Kee-món-saw, Little Chief, Miami chief, painted by George Catlin, 1830
Total population
(3,908 (2011))
Regions with significant populations
 United States ( Oklahoma, historically  Indiana)
Languages
English, French, Miami-Illinois
Religion
Christianity, Traditional tribal religion
Related ethnic groups
Peoria, Kaskaskia, Piankashaw, Wea, Illinois, and other Algonquian peoples
Known locations of the Miami during the Iroquois War years
1654 Fox River, southwest of Lake Winnebago
1670-95 Wisconsin River, below the Portage to the Fox River
1673 Niles, Michigan
1679-81 Fort Miamis, at St. Joseph, Michigan
1680 Fort Chicago
1682-2014 Fort St. Louis, at Starved Rock, Illinois
1687 Calumet River, at Blue Island, Illinois
c. 1691 Wabash River, at the mouth of the Tippecanoe River

The Miami (Miami-Illinois: Myaamiaki) are a Native American nation originally speaking one of the Algonquian languages. Among the peoples known as the Great Lakes tribes, it occupied territory that is now identified as Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio. By 1846, most of the Miami had been removed to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma). The Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is the only federally recognized tribe of Miami Indians in the United States. The Miami Nation of Indiana is an unrecognized tribe.

The name Miami derives from Myaamia (plural Myaamiaki), the tribe's autonym (name for themselves) in their Algonquian language of Miami-Illinois. This appears to have been derived from an older term meaning "downstream people." Some scholars contended the Miami called themselves the Twightwee (also spelled Twatwa), supposedly an onomatopoeic reference to their sacred bird, the sandhill crane. Recent studies have shown that Twightwee derives from the Delaware language exonym for the Miamis, tuwéhtuwe, a name of unknown etymology. Some Miami have stated that this was only a name used by other tribes for the Miami, and not their autonym. They also called themselves Mihtohseeniaki (the people). The Miami continue to use this autonym today.

Early Miami people are considered to belong to the Fischer Tradition of Mississippian culture. Mississippian societies were characterized by maize-based agriculture, chiefdom-level social organization, extensive regional trade networks, hierarchical settlement patterns, and other factors. The historical Miami engaged in hunting, as did other Mississippian peoples.


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