PONCA TRIBE
1895 Maps of Indian Nations

The Ponce were one of five tribes in Dhegiha group of the Siouan linguistic family.� This group consisted of the Ponca, Omaha, Osage, Kaw (Kansa), and Quapaw.� In 1673, the Ponca were living on the Niobrara; later the moved to southwestern Minnesota and the Black Hills of South Dakota.� In 1877, they were evicted from their lands by the United States, which caused such hardship among the tribe that it became the subject of a public investigation ordered� by President Hayes.� In a settlement, about a third of the tribe returned to their lands on the Niobrara in 1880, while the rest moved to new lands set aside for them in Oklahoma. A small group of Ponca known as the Northern Ponca live in Nebraska.