Indigenous Tribes of Kansas

According to the Kansas Historical Society, “the Arapaho, Cheyenne, Comanche, Kansa, Kiowa, Osage, Pawnee, and Wichita are tribes that are considered native to present day Kansas.” In particular, the Kansa occupied the land that would one day be Quindaro. The Kansa tribe is also known as the Kaw tribe, derived from the Siouan word, aca, which means “Southwind.” The Kaw used to be a part of the Dhegiha Soiuan group, which included the Omahas and the Osages. Due to Missouri’s statehood and the opening of the Santa Fe Trail in 1821, Congress forced the Kanza to sign the Treaty of 1825 which took all their land in Missouri as well as significant portions of their land in Nebraska and Kansas. While the land in Missouri was immediately opened to white settlement, the land in Kansas was designated as “Indian Territory” and intended to be made into reservations for Emigrant Indian tribes. By 1872, the Kanza, who gave their name to the State of Kansas, would be completely removed from Kansas, and relocated to Oklahoma. The only remaining federally recognized tribes in Kansas today are the Iowa, Kickapoo, Potawatomi, and Sac and Fox.