Missouri tribe
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The Missouri or Missouria were an aboriginal tribe that inhabited parts of the midwestern United States before European explorers arrived. The tribe belonged to the Chiwere division of the Siouan linguistic family, with the Iowa and Oto. The tribe lived near the mouth of the Grand River in Missouri, the mouth of the Missouri River, and a place called The Pinnacles in Saline County, Missouri.
Their name means "one who has dugout canoes" in the Illinois language (wimihsoorita)[1]. In their own language, the Missouri call themselves Niúachi. They were known as the Waçux¢a by the Osage and Wa-ju'-xd¢ǎ, by the Quapaw[citation needed].
According to the enthnographer James Mooney, the population of the tribe was about 200 families in 1702; 1000 people in 1780; 300 in 1805; 80 in 1829, when they were living with the Otoe; and 13 in 1910; afterwards not separated from the Otoe. Today they remain part of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Oklahoma.
Their name has been lent to the state of Missouri and the Missouri River.
[edit] References
- ^ McCafferty, Michael. 2004. Correction: Etymology of Missouri. American Speech, 79.1:32
