Miami people
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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 |
| 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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