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A Little History
KAW TRIBE 1895 Maps of Indian Nations
The Kaw or Kansa are
one of the five tribes in the Dhegiha group of the Siouan linguistic
family.� According� to tradition, the five tribes-Kaw, Osage,
Ponca, Omaha and Quapaw were one people and lived along the Wabash River and
far up the Ohio.� Pushed westward by the
encroachment of superior forces, they split at the mouth of the Ohio
River.� Those going down the Mississippi
River took the name �Quapaw� or �Downstream People.�� The latter afterward divided into four tribes-the Kaw, Osage,
Ponca, and Omaha.� By terms of the
treaties with the United States from 1820 to 1846, the Kaw relinquished their
claims to several million acres in Kansas and Nebraska. �A new reservation was assigned them in 1846
at Council Grove on the Neosho River, Kansas.�
These lands were finally overrun by white settlers.� In 1872, the tract was sold, and a new
reserve was purchased for the tribe near the Osage, in Indian Territory.� In 1902, that reservation was allotted under
law to the tribal membership; and today there is no tribal member who still
owns any of the trust land.
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