legend of native americans indians

omaha tribe history

Omaha ('those going against the wind or current' ). One of the 5 tribes of the so called Dhegiha group of the Siouan family, the other 4 being the Kansa, Quapaw, Osage, and Ponca. Hale and Dorsey concluded from a study of the languages and traditions that, in the westward migration of the Dhegiha from their seat on Ohio and Wabash rivers after the separation, at least as early as 1500, of the Quapaw, who went down the Mississippi from the mouth of the Ohio, the Omaha branch moved up the great river, remaining awhile near the mouth of the Missouri while war and hunting parties explored the country to the northwest. The Osage remained on Osage river and the Kansa continued up the Missouri, while the Omaha, still including the Ponca, crossed the latter stream and remained for a period in Iowa, ranging as far as the Pipestone quarry at the present Pipestone, Minn. They were driven back by the Dakota, and after the separation of the Ponca, who advanced into the Black Hills, which occurred probably about 1650 at the mouth of Niobrara river, the Omaha settled on Bow creek, Nebraska, and may have already been there at the date of Marquette's map (1673). Jefferys (1761) located the Omaha on the east side of Missouri river, beyond the Iowa, immediately above Big Sioux river. In 1766 they appear to have had friendly relations with the Dakota, as Carver mentions having met both tribes together on Minnesota river. They were at their favorite resort near Omadi, Dakota county, Nebr., in1800. Lewis and Clark (1804) found them on the south side of Missouri r.iver opposite Sioux City, South Dakota, but learned that the tribe in 1802, while living at a point farther up the Missouri, was visited by smallpox, which had greatly reduced their number and caused their removal. Then, as in later years they were at constant war with the Sioux. They Were on the west side of the Missouri a short distance above the Platte in 1845, but in 1855 removed to what is now Dakota county, Nebraska. They joined with other tribes in the treaties of July 15, 1830, and Oct. 15, 1836, and by the treaty of Washington, D. C., Mar. 16, 1854, ceded all their lands west of the Missouri and south of a line running due west from the point where Iowa river leaves the bluffs, retaining their lands north of this line for a reservation. By treaty of Mar. 6, 1865, they sold part of their reservation to the United States for the use of the Winnebago. Many of them learned to cultivate grain and raise stock, and in 1882, through the effort of Miss Alice C. Fletcher, a law was enacted granting lands in severalty and prospective citizenship.
     The primitive dwellings of the Omaha were chiefly lodges of earth, more rarely of bark or mats, and skin tents. The earth lodges, similar in construction to those of the Mandan, were intended principally for summer use, when the people were not hunting. The bark lodges were usually elliptical in form, occasionally having two fireplaces and two smoke holes. The skin tent was used when the people were traveling or hunting the buffalo. Pottery was made by the Omaha before 1850, but the art has been forgotten. Their mortars were made by burning a hollow in a knot or round piece of wood, and spoons were made of horn, wood, and pottery. Polygamy was practiced, but the maximum number of wives that any one man could have was three.
     Until 1880 there were two principal chiefs, usually selected from the Hangashenu subtribe, though there was no law or rule forbidding their selection from other divisions. In addition to these there were subordinate chiefs. Their religion, according to Dorsey (3rd Rep. B. A. E., 1884), was associated with the practice of medicine, mythology, and war customs, and with their gentile system.
    The population of the Omaha since their recovery from the great loss by smallpox in 1802, when they were reduced to about 300, has greatly increased. In 1804, according to Lewis (Statist. View, 16, 1807), they numbered 600, including 150 warriors. In 1829 they were estimated at 1,900, and in 1843 at 1,600, both of which estimates were probably excessive. Schoolcraft gives 1,349 in 1851, Burrows 1,200 in 1857, and the same number is given by the census of 1880. In 1906 the population of the tribe was 1,228.

RODNEY A.GRANT OMAHA ACTOR

HISTOIRE DE LA TRIBU OMAHA

Nation indienne du Nebraska

Devenus chasseurs nomades après l’acquisition du cheval, les Omahas étaient connus dans les Plaines comme de remarquables chanteurs et danseurs. Après avoir été durement touchés par la variole en 1802, ils doivent en 1854 se retirer sur une réserve du Nebraska.
 
Un peuple des plaines

Les Omahas parlaient une langue siouane, comme les Poncas, les Osages, les Quaws et les Quapaws auxquels ils étaient très liés. Comme eux ils avaient probablement habité la vallée de l’Ohio avant de s’établir au début du XVIIIè siècle dans les Plaines de ce qui allait devenir le Kansas et le Nebraska.
Leurs villages étaient faits de huttes de terre en forme de dôme. Les femmes cultivaient le maïs, la courge, le tabac et récoltaient de nombreuses plantes sauvages comestibles. Les hommes pêchaient et chassaient toute l’année le cerf et le petit gibier. A la saison des grandes chasses, ils abandonnaient leurs villages et parcouraient les Plaines à la recherche des bisons et des élans. Quand les Omahas ont disposé de chevaux, leur mode de vie et leur culture sont devenus ceux des nations des Plaines. Ils ont alors partiellement abandonné leurs villages fixes et l’agriculture pour vivre sous des tipis, et le bison est devenu leur ressource essentielle.
une sensibilité artistique

Les Omahas vivaient en excellents termes avec leurs voisins les Poncas, mais combattaient sporadiquement les Lakotas, leurs puissants voisins de nord. Les Omahas étaient connus dans les Plaines et les Prairies comme des artistes, réputés pour leurs chants et leurs danses. D’importants groupes de chanteurs, de danseurs et de musiciens omahas voyageaient durant l’été de villages en villages, bien accueillis partout, même chez l’ennemi. Les danses omahas sont toujours pratiquées par les nations des Plaines et sont même devenues un genre parmi les danses de pow wow modernes.
Détruits par la variole

Dès 1802, quelques commerçants blancs séjournent chez eux, apportant aux Omahas une épidémie de variole qui laisse la nation extrêmement affaiblie.
En 1854, sans même avoir combattu, ils doivent abandonner aux Etats-Unis toutes leurs terres à l’ouest du Missouri et s’installent sur une réserve du Nebraska dont la capitale est Macy, le long de la rive occidentale du fleuve, au sud de Sioux City.

En 1865, les Omahas cèdent aux Etats-Unis la partie nord de leur réserve qui devient la réserve des Winnebagos du Nebraska. Depuis cette époque, les Omahas et leurs voisins winnebagos vivent en bons termes, partageant des écoles, un hôpital, un collège.
L'acteur Rodney A. Grant (né en 1959), célèbre pour son rôle de "Wind in his Hair" dans le film "Danse avec les Loups" de Kevin Costner est d'origine omaha.