Tribe: The Quapaw (or "Arkansea" according to the Algonquin-speaking tribes of the Ohio Valley and "Ugahxpa" in Quapaw, themselves.)
Meaning of Name: "The Downstream People."
Location: Originally from the northeastern Ohio Valley, they were pushed out of their homeland by the Iroquois in the 1200's and ended up in Arkansas by the 1700s. They were then removed to Oklahoma in 1834. Their reservation is on the site of one of the most toxic and contaminated Superfund sites in the United States that has led to learning disabilities and other lead-poisoning problems.
Original Language: Quapaw, a Dhegiha branch of the Siouan linguistic family.
Tribal Affiliations: The Quapaw were a fairly peace-loving people who traded goods with the other tribes in an effort to maintain the peace. They especially liked the French, but were also friendly with the Spanish, the Osage, the Omaha, the Kansa, the Ponca, the Miami, the Wyandot, the Seneca, the Ottawa, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Tunica, the Caddo, and eventually, the Chickasaw.
Traditional Enemies: Originally, the Spanish and the British. Also the Natchez, the Osage and the Chickasaw. The Quapaw preferred to count coup rather than try to destroy their enemies.
Traditional Style of Housing: Their villages were protected by a ditch and a wall (palisades.) Their rectangular houses were build on flat-topped dirt mounds to protect against flooding and looked a bit like long stiff caterpillars covered in bark. These homes, palisades and villages were built by the men. A longhouse, which was longer than the others, served as a town hall, and there were probably sweat-lodges, menstrual-lodges, smoke-houses and storehouses for the surplus.
Traditional Attire: Fairly traditional for the People of the Plains before white people arrived. The women originally wore long deerskin dresses and moccasins and carried beaded purses. The men wore breech-cloths with leggings which were held up with beaded garters, deerskin tunics and moccasins. Both wore fancy beadwork and fringes. Like the Iroquois who had chased them out of the upper Ohio Valley, the men shaved their heads, had scalp-locks and wore roaches, although the chiefs wore the longer and fancier headdresses. After white people arrived, the Quapaw women switched to ruffled cotton or broadcloth dresses and aprons trimmed in silk appliqued ribbons.
Traditional Foods: The women grew maize, onions, garlic chives, grapes, squash, beans, melons, sunflowers and tobacco (for pipe-smoking), and had orchards of fruit trees, like persimmon and peaches. They gathered blueberries, wild greens, walnuts, pecans and acorns (which had to be leached of their tannins.) The men hunted deer, bear (particularly prized for its rendered fat, which was sweet and used like margarine), bison, raccoons, rabbits, possum, turtles, turkey, geese, quail, and ducks, and fished or caught trout, bass, crayfish, catfish, paddlefish (prized for its caviar-like eggs), sturgeon (probably also prized for its eggs), eel, shad, pickerel, carp, suckers, buffalo fish, redhorse fish, crappie, walleye, drum fish and many others.
Position of Women: Patrilineal and patri-local, so the children were reckoned through their father's line and the Quapaw women went to live with their husbands' families. Women were the farmers and gatherers, and men were the hunters, warriors, the home-builders and major tribal decision-makers. Both men and women took care of the horses. At one time, the position of Chief was passed from father to son.
Quapaw Courtship: Unmarried women wore braids in coils behind their ears. Other than that, I could not find any information.
Interesting Tidbits: The Quapaw buried their dead sitting up and strapped to a pole, with their stuff buried beside them.... Before they were introduced to horses, the Quapaw traveled by cypress-wood dugout canoes and had travois-pulling dogs....The Quapaw had access to salt springs while they lived in Arkansas, and so were able to salt their food.... The Quapaw were divided into two main divisions, Earth and Sky, and into twenty-one subdivisions or clans: the Beaver, Small Bird, Black Bear, Buffalo, Crane, Deer, Dog, Eagle, Elk, Fish, Grizzly Bear, Ancestral, Black Bear, Panther, Snake, Star, Sun, Thunder, Turtle, Upper World, "Nikiata," and "Tizhu" clans. You could not marry someone from the Earth moiety if you were of the Sky moiety, and you could not marry someone from the Sky moiety if you were an Earth moiety, because the Earth and Sky don't mix except in tornadoes and then there's trouble.
Traditional Religion: Traditional tribal religion, Big Moon and Little Moon Native American Church and Roman Catholic.
Slavery and the Quapaw: A slave burial site was recently found in Arkansas that contained the remains of both African-Americans and Quapaw people. I am not sure what this means.
Current Population: There are more than 3000 registered Quapaw.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Tourism, smoke shops, gas stations, casinos and a golf course.
Famous Quapaw: None that I have heard of.
Meaning of Name: "The Downstream People."
Location: Originally from the northeastern Ohio Valley, they were pushed out of their homeland by the Iroquois in the 1200's and ended up in Arkansas by the 1700s. They were then removed to Oklahoma in 1834. Their reservation is on the site of one of the most toxic and contaminated Superfund sites in the United States that has led to learning disabilities and other lead-poisoning problems.
Original Language: Quapaw, a Dhegiha branch of the Siouan linguistic family.
Tribal Affiliations: The Quapaw were a fairly peace-loving people who traded goods with the other tribes in an effort to maintain the peace. They especially liked the French, but were also friendly with the Spanish, the Osage, the Omaha, the Kansa, the Ponca, the Miami, the Wyandot, the Seneca, the Ottawa, the Cherokee, the Choctaw, the Tunica, the Caddo, and eventually, the Chickasaw.
Traditional Enemies: Originally, the Spanish and the British. Also the Natchez, the Osage and the Chickasaw. The Quapaw preferred to count coup rather than try to destroy their enemies.
Traditional Style of Housing: Their villages were protected by a ditch and a wall (palisades.) Their rectangular houses were build on flat-topped dirt mounds to protect against flooding and looked a bit like long stiff caterpillars covered in bark. These homes, palisades and villages were built by the men. A longhouse, which was longer than the others, served as a town hall, and there were probably sweat-lodges, menstrual-lodges, smoke-houses and storehouses for the surplus.
Traditional Attire: Fairly traditional for the People of the Plains before white people arrived. The women originally wore long deerskin dresses and moccasins and carried beaded purses. The men wore breech-cloths with leggings which were held up with beaded garters, deerskin tunics and moccasins. Both wore fancy beadwork and fringes. Like the Iroquois who had chased them out of the upper Ohio Valley, the men shaved their heads, had scalp-locks and wore roaches, although the chiefs wore the longer and fancier headdresses. After white people arrived, the Quapaw women switched to ruffled cotton or broadcloth dresses and aprons trimmed in silk appliqued ribbons.
Traditional Foods: The women grew maize, onions, garlic chives, grapes, squash, beans, melons, sunflowers and tobacco (for pipe-smoking), and had orchards of fruit trees, like persimmon and peaches. They gathered blueberries, wild greens, walnuts, pecans and acorns (which had to be leached of their tannins.) The men hunted deer, bear (particularly prized for its rendered fat, which was sweet and used like margarine), bison, raccoons, rabbits, possum, turtles, turkey, geese, quail, and ducks, and fished or caught trout, bass, crayfish, catfish, paddlefish (prized for its caviar-like eggs), sturgeon (probably also prized for its eggs), eel, shad, pickerel, carp, suckers, buffalo fish, redhorse fish, crappie, walleye, drum fish and many others.
Position of Women: Patrilineal and patri-local, so the children were reckoned through their father's line and the Quapaw women went to live with their husbands' families. Women were the farmers and gatherers, and men were the hunters, warriors, the home-builders and major tribal decision-makers. Both men and women took care of the horses. At one time, the position of Chief was passed from father to son.
Quapaw Courtship: Unmarried women wore braids in coils behind their ears. Other than that, I could not find any information.
Interesting Tidbits: The Quapaw buried their dead sitting up and strapped to a pole, with their stuff buried beside them.... Before they were introduced to horses, the Quapaw traveled by cypress-wood dugout canoes and had travois-pulling dogs....The Quapaw had access to salt springs while they lived in Arkansas, and so were able to salt their food.... The Quapaw were divided into two main divisions, Earth and Sky, and into twenty-one subdivisions or clans: the Beaver, Small Bird, Black Bear, Buffalo, Crane, Deer, Dog, Eagle, Elk, Fish, Grizzly Bear, Ancestral, Black Bear, Panther, Snake, Star, Sun, Thunder, Turtle, Upper World, "Nikiata," and "Tizhu" clans. You could not marry someone from the Earth moiety if you were of the Sky moiety, and you could not marry someone from the Sky moiety if you were an Earth moiety, because the Earth and Sky don't mix except in tornadoes and then there's trouble.
Traditional Religion: Traditional tribal religion, Big Moon and Little Moon Native American Church and Roman Catholic.
Slavery and the Quapaw: A slave burial site was recently found in Arkansas that contained the remains of both African-Americans and Quapaw people. I am not sure what this means.
Current Population: There are more than 3000 registered Quapaw.
Current Sources of Tribal Revenue: Tourism, smoke shops, gas stations, casinos and a golf course.
Famous Quapaw: None that I have heard of.
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