Dear Young Iowan:

You might travel to the Meskwaki settlement near Tama and enjoy the yearly powwows or perhaps be entertained at the casino, but such activities are modern diversions and pale in comparison to the centuries-long history of Indian life in Iowa.

Indian peoples began to live in the area of Iowa about twelve thousand years ago, when they hunted now-extinct big game—mammoths and giant buffaloes. Around ten thousand years or so ago, natives began to make better stone tools in what became known as the Archaic period. Then, beginning about three thousand years ago, Woodland cultures began to emerge from the Archaic groups; people of the Woodland cultures hunted and gathered, made pottery, domesticated plants, and built burial mounds like those at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Northeastern Iowa. The Indians of this time developed an extended trading network, importing valuable materials to be crafted into both usable and exquisite artifacts.

About one thousand years ago the Oneota culture spread throughout Iowa. No doubt related to later known tribes, the Oneota peoples lived in Iowa in decreasing numbers until about the year 1800. By then, other groups—contemporary tribes including the Winnebago, Potawatomi, Oto-Missouri, Yankton Sioux, Santee Sioux, Meskwaki, Sauk, and of course the Iowa—lived in Iowa. In all, it has been estimated that members of at least twenty historical tribes inhabited Iowa at one time or another.

Iowa has not always been a placid place. While many school children used to be told about the Spirit Lake Massacre, when several white settlers in northwestern Iowa were killed by angry Sioux in 1857, many of today's teachers seem to imply that Iowa escaped war and bloodshed on its own soil. The truth is more unpleasant.

Dear Young Iowan:

You might travel to the Meskwaki settlement near Tama and enjoy the yearly powwows or perhaps be entertained at the casino, but such activities are modern diversions and pale in comparison to the centuries-long history of Indian life in Iowa.

Indian peoples began to live in the area of Iowa about twelve thousand years ago, when they hunted now-extinct big game—mammoths and giant buffaloes. Around ten thousand years or so ago, natives began to make better stone tools in what became known as the Archaic period. Then, beginning about three thousand years ago, Woodland cultures began to emerge from the Archaic groups; people of the Woodland cultures hunted and gathered, made pottery, domesticated plants, and built burial mounds like those at Effigy Mounds National Monument in Northeastern Iowa. The Indians of this time developed an extended trading network, importing valuable materials to be crafted into both usable and exquisite artifacts.

About one thousand years ago the Oneota culture spread throughout Iowa. No doubt related to later known tribes, the Oneota peoples lived in Iowa in decreasing numbers until about the year 1800. By then, other groups—contemporary tribes including the Winnebago, Potawatomi, Oto-Missouri, Yankton Sioux, Santee Sioux, Meskwaki, Sauk, and of course the Iowa—lived in Iowa. In all, it has been estimated that members of at least twenty historical tribes inhabited Iowa at one time or another.

Iowa has not always been a placid place. While many school children used to be told about the Spirit Lake Massacre, when several white settlers in northwestern Iowa were killed by angry Sioux in 1857, many of today's teachers seem to imply that Iowa escaped war and bloodshed on its own soil. The truth is more unpleasant.

Indian tribes fought viciously over hunting grounds, especially after around 1820, as whites pushed Indian groups westward onto other tribes' territories. Indeed, Meskwaki and Sauk conflicts with the Sioux were legendary. Eventually, the U.S. government signed treaties of removal with tribes in the state, mandating that the tribes leave by the early 1850s.

Still, many Meskwakis refused to relocate. They now considered Iowa their homeland, and their ties to the land outweighed any treaty their chiefs had signed. These dissidents hid out along the riverways until the Iowa legislature agreed to let the Meskwakis purchase land in Tama County. Today, the Meskwaki tribe is the only legally recognized tribe in Iowa, although members of other tribes reside in the state.

Iowa has a distinct Indian past. Having hunted for arrowheads, maybe, or done a scout or school project on American Indians, you know this much already. However, the state's Indian heritage is greater than its many Indian place names and designated historical sites. Likewise, Indian artifacts—from early stone tools to beautiful present-day beadwork displayed in museums across the state—only tell a part of the story.

An Indian presence is rooted in our past and present. My injunction to you is this: recognize and appreciate our native predecessors and embrace a sense of our—Indian and non-Indian—mutual connection to Iowa.