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.