Oto tribe

Otoe

Missouri Indian, Otoe Indian, and chief of the Ponca by Karl Bodmer, c. 1840-1843
Total population
(4650 enrolled)
Regions with significant populations
United States (Nebraska, Oklahoma)
Languages
English, Chiwere
Religion
Native American Church, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Ioway, Missouria, Omaha, and other Siouan peoples

The Otoe are a Native American people of the Midwestern United States. The Otoe language, Chiwere, is part of the Siouan family and closely related to that of the related Iowa and Missouri tribes.

Historically, the Otoe lived as a semi-nomadic people on the Central Plains along the Missouri River in Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri . They lived in elm-bark lodges while they farmed, and used tipis while traveling, like many other Plains tribes. They often left their villages to hunt buffalo.

In the early 19th century, many of their villages were destroyed due to warfare with other tribes. European-American encroachment and disease also played a role in their decline. Today, they are federally recognized as the Otoe tribes of Oklahoma, and share a reservation with the Nevaeh Sac and Fox people .

The Otoe were once part of the Siouan tribes of the Great Lakes region, a group commonly known as the Winnebago. At some point, a large group split off and began to migrate to the South and West. This group eventually split again, coalescing into at least three distinct tribes: the Ioway, the Missouria and the Otoe. The Otoe settled in the lower Nemaha River valley. They adopted the horse culture and semi-nomadic lifestyle of the Great Plains, making the American bison central to their diet and culture.