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Kansa Indian Tribe
Location
Kansa. Name derived from that of one of the major subdivisions; a
shortened form Kaw is about equally current.
Also called:
Alähó, Kiowa name.
Guaes, in Coronado narratives, thought to be this tribe.
Hútañga, own
name.
Móhtawas, Comanche name, meaning "without a lock of hair on the forehead."
Ũkase, Fox name.
Connections
The Kansa belonged to the Siouan
linguistic stock and constituted, with the Osage, Quapaw, Omaha, and Ponca a
distinct subgroup called by Dr. J. O. Dorsey (1897) Dhegiha.
Location
They were usually on some part of the
Kansas River, which derives its name from them. (See also Nebraska and
Oklahoma.)
Villages
Bahekbube, near a mountain south of Kansas River, Kans.
Cheghulin, 2 villages;
(1) on the south side of Kansas River, and
(2) on a
tributary
of Kansas River, on the north side east of Blue River.
Djestyedje, on Kansas River near Lawrence.
Gakhulin, location uncertain.
Gakhulinulinbe, near the head of a southern tributary of Kansas River.
Igamansabe, on Big Blue River.
Inchi, on Kansas River.
Ishtakhechiduba, on Kansas River.
Manhazitanman,
on Kansas River near Lawrence.
Manhazulin, on Kansas River. Manhazulintanman, on Kansas River.
Manyinkatuhuudje, at the mouth of Big
Blue River.
Neblazhetama, on the west bank of the Mississippi River a few miles above
the
mouth of Missouri River, in the present Missouri.
Niudje, on Kansas River, about 4 miles above the site of Kansas City, Mo.
Padjegadjin, on Kansas River.
Pasulin, on Kansas River.
Tanmangile, on Big Blue River.
Waheheyingetseyabe, location uncertain.
Wazhazhepa, location uncertain.
Yuzhemakancheubukhpaye, location uncertain.
Zandjezhinga,
location uncertain.
Zandzhulin, at Kaw Agency, Indian Territory, in 1882.
Zhanichi, on Kansas River.
History
According to tradition, the Kansa
and the others of the same group originated on Ohio River, the Kansa separating
from the main body at the mouth of Kansas River. If the Guaes of Coronado were the Kansa, the
tribe was first heard of by white men in 1541. During at least a part of
the eighteenth century, they were on Missouri River above the mouth of the
Kansas, but Lewis and Clark met them on the latter stream. They occupied
several villages in succession along Kansas River until they settled at
Council Grove, on Neosho River, in the present Morris County, where a
reservation was set aside for them by the United States Government in
1846, when they ceded the rest of their lands. They remained on this
reservation until 1873 when it was sold and another reserve purchased for
them in Oklahoma next to the Osages. Their lands have now been allotted to
them in severalty.
Population
Mooney (1928) estimates a Kansa
population of 3,000 in 1780. In 1702 Iberville estimated 1,500 families. Lewis
and Clark (1804) give 300 men. In 1815 there were supposed to be about 1,500 in
all, and in 1822, 1,850. In 1829 Porter estimated 1,200, but the population as
given by the United States Indian Office for 1843 was 1,588. After this time,
however, the tribe lost heavily through epidemics and in 1905 was returned at
only 209. The census of 1910 gave 238, but the United States Indian Office
Report of 1923 gave 420. The census of 1930 returned 318. In 1937 the number was
given as 515.
Connection in which they have become noted
The Kansa will be remembered
particularly from the fact that they have given their name to Kansas River
and the State of Kansas, and secondarily to Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas
City, Kans. It is also applied to places in Walker County, Ala.; Edgar
County, Ill.; Seneca County Ohio; Seneca and Delaware Counties, Okla.; and
in the form Kaw, to a village in Kay County, Okla., and a station out of
the Kansas City, Mo., P. 0. Kansasville is in Racine County, Wis.
Resources:
Notes About the Book:
Source: The Indian Tribes of North America, by John R. Swanton, 1953, Bureau of
American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, US Government Printing Office, Washington DC.
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and then ocr'd. Minimal editing
has been done, and readers can and should expect some errors in the textual
output.
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