Mihšiiwia Kiilhswa (Elk Moon) is named for the Eastern American Elk (Cervus canadensis canadensis). The Eastern Elk subspecies was hunted out in the state of Indiana by the 1840s and declared extinct in North America in 1880. To the best of our knowledge, this month is associated with the fact that the Eastern Elk used…
Category: Waapaahšiki siipionki
The Wabash River Valley in contemporary Indiana.
The Good Path: Part II
aapooši peehkihkanaweeyankwi Again We Travel a Good Path – Part II (1752-1780) In our last post we examined the history of the Myaamia village of Pinkwaawilenionki, also known as Pickawillany, and the brief period of instability that centered on the creation and destruction of this Myaamia village on the Great Miami River (1747-1752).[1] Following the…
Was “Aquenackwe” Little Turtle’s Father? (FAQ)
Was “Aquenackwe” Little Turtle’s Father? Was “Aquenackwe” Little Turtle’s father? Probably not. Like many Myaamia (Miami) children, I grew up with stories of family genealogy. One common story that I heard was that my family descended from Little Turtle’s sister, Tahkamwa (Maria Louisa Richardville). In family genealogies, Little Turtle and Tahkamwa’s father was always listed…
The Crooked Trail to Pickawillany (1747-1752)
waakihsenki miiwi pinkwaawilenionkiši The Crooked Trail to Pickawillany (1747-1752) In our last post we looked at the beginning of the longest period of stability in the recorded history of Myaamia people (1700-1780). In the first part of that period (1700-1740), Myaamia people resumed the “normal” patterns of their lives in villages along the Waapaahšiki Siipiiwi…
The Good Path: Part I
aapooši peehkihkanaweeyankwi Again We Travel a Good Path – Part I (1700-1747) In our last post, we took a look at the tumultuous years that followed the arrival of various groups of Europeans in North America. Disruptions from disease and war eventually escalated into a series of conflicts called the Beaver Wars (1640-1701). These conflicts…
The Myaamia-French Encounter
Myaamiaki neehi Meehtikoošia Meehkohkaatiiwaaci The Myaamia and French Encounter Each Other In our last post we took a look at the two foundational elements that bound together the independent Myaamia (Miami) villages of the Waapaahšiki Siipiiwi (Wabash River Valley). We found that a common language and a shared landscape helped to maintain a shared identity…
Walking a Myaamia Trail
myaamiihkanawe peempaalinki – Walking a Myaamia Trail In the post “Walking Myaamionki” we explored how Myaamia people first settled the Waapaahšiki Siipiiwi (Wabash River). That post left off with the question: what held all these unique villages, spread over hundreds of miles, together as a group? Prior to contact with Europeans, each village had their…
What does the word “Miami” mean? (FAQ)
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. It literally describes our location as downstream on…
Walking Myaamionki
Peempaliyankwi Myaamionki – Walking Myaamionki In our last post we looked at our people’s story of emergence from the waters of Saakiiweesiipiwi (St. Joseph River near South Bend, Indiana) onto Myaamionki, our traditional homelands.[1] As we saw in that story, our ancestors constructed a village at that location, but after an unknown amount of time…
Aacimotaatiiyankwi 