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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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