Wanderlust World Wanderlust World Before statehood, the land now called Indiana was stewarded by numerous Native nations. Here are the major groups documented in the 17th–19th centuries.
Dominant in central/western Indiana. Villages along the Wabash, Mississinewa, and Maumee Rivers. Confederacy included Wea, Piankashaw, and later Shawnee allies. Forced removal to Kansas (1846) then Oklahoma.
Northern/central Indiana, especially St. Joseph River valley. Part of the Council of Three Fires (with Ojibwe, Odawa). Many removed via 1838 Trail of Death to Kansas.
Southwestern Indiana (Ohio River valley). Highly mobile; leaders like Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa organized resistance from Indiana bases (Prophetstown).
Pushed west into Indiana (White River, Delaware County) by colonial expansion. Signed 1818 Treaty of St. Mary's ceding Indiana lands; removed to Missouri/Kansas.
Western/southern Indiana. Fierce resistance; many fled to Mexico/Texas rather than remove west.
Miami-affiliated. Wabash River villages (near Lafayette). Removed with Miami.
Miami-affiliated. Wabash and White River valleys. Merged with Peoria/Kaskaskia; now part of Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma.
Northwestern/central Indiana. Algonquian-speaking; dispersed early (early 1700s) due to Iroquois pressure and disease. Absorbed into Kickapoo/Potawatomi.
Southern/western edges. Included Kaskaskia, Cahokia, Peoria. Decimated by war/disease; remnants merged with Peoria.
Indiana's map bears their imprint: Miami County, Wabash, Mississinewa, Salamonie, Tippecanoe, Kokomo, Peru, Mishawaka, Shipshewana.