Native Ground: The First People of Missouri Before Statehood

Long before the Europeans arrived and claimed dominion over an imagined wilderness, the original inhabitants developed diverse cultures in relation to the rivers, prairies, plains, plateaus, and woodlands. Missouri was native ground to multiple tribal groups, who made it home. In addition to the Osage Indians, the Quapaw, Otoe, Missouria, Ioway, Sauk, Fox, Omaha, Peoria, Piankeshaw, Ponca, Kaw, and Chickasaw resided in parts of the state before its boundaries appeared on a map. After the formation of the United States, migrating communities of the Shawnee, Delaware, Pottawatomi, Miami, Kickapoo, and Cherokee relocated to the western side of the Mississippi. Native stories of origin illuminate worlds of wonder in mid-America, and Missourians are seeing them anew.