All about the ancient tribes
The Miami Tribe people were farmers. They grew food crops which included beans, corn and squash. The Miami Tribesmen were expert hunters and they mostly hunted wild buffaloes. They used fire to drive the buffalo towards the hunters.
Besides hunting and trapping buffalo, the Miami’s also farmed a great amount of white corn, in which they would trade with other tribes during the 18th century. One of the biggest event that changed the lives of the Miami Indian Tribe was the Miami War, which is also known as Little Turtle’s War.
The Miami natives originally lived in Indiana, Illinois, and southern Michigan at the time of European colonization of North America. They moved into the Maumee Valley around 1700. They soon became the most powerful American Indian tribe in Ohio.
What kinds of clothing did Myaamia ( Miami Indian ) people wear prior to contact with Europeans? In the period of time prior to contact with Europeans, Myaamia people wore clothing made from hides: leggings, breechcloth, moccasins, skirts, shirts, and added large blanket robes during colder weather.
The Illinois spoke a language in the Algonquian language family called ” Miami-Illinois.” Miami and Illinois peoples could easily understand one another. The only differences in their speech were different ways of pronouncing certain words.
The name Miami derives from Myaamia (plural Myaamiaki), the tribe’s autonym ( name for themselves) in their Algonquian language of Miami -Illinois. Some Miami have stated that this was only a name used by other tribes for the Miami, and not their autonym.
Miami is named after the Mayaimi, a Native American tribe that lived around Lake Okeechobee until the 17th or 18th century. The Miami area was better known as “Biscayne Bay Country” in the early years of its growth.
Miami is a Native American nation originally speaking one of the Algonquian languages. Among the peoples known as the Great Lakes tribes, it occupied territory that is now identified as Indiana, southwest Michigan, and western Ohio.
The word Miami is related to the word Myaamia. Myaamia means “downstream person” though we often translate it into the plural “people.” In the distant past, this was a term that other indigenous peoples applied to us, but over time we began to use it for ourselves.
Miami religion centered around Individual and group attempts to gain power from spirits known as manitous. The Miami believed that manitous roamed the world and could take the form of humans, animals, and Perhaps even plants or nuts.
Wigwams are made of wooden frames which are covered with woven mats and sheets of birchbark. The frame can be shaped like a dome, like a cone, or like a rectangle with an arched roof. Once the birchbark is in place, ropes or strips of wood are wrapped around the wigwam to hold the bark in place.
Albert Hood of Oklahoma City wants to know the correct pronunciation of ” Miami.” Albert says he’s heard that the original pronunciation of the tribal name was “My-AH-ma.” “But usually we hear “My-AH-Mee,” he said.
Although the heartland of the Shawnee people appears to have been present-day southern Ohio, Kentucky, and West Virginia, groups of Shawnee were spread across the eastern United States, living in Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, West
Traditional Shawnee clothing included skirts and leggings for women, and breechcloths and leggings for men. In cold weather both men and women wore ponchos, but shirts were not a requirement. Shoes were moccasins, and they sometimes wore headbands with a feather but they did not wear headdresses.
The sovereign Miami Tribe of Oklahoma is based in Miami, Oklahoma in the northeastern corner of the state. The population of the Nation is approximately 4,400, and citizens can be found living in all 50 states as well as outside the boundaries of the United States.