The Wea (Miami–Illinois: Waayaahtanwa) were a Miami–Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as being either closely related to the Miami tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami.

Today, the descendants of the Wea, along with the Kaskaskia, Piankeshaw, and Peoria, are enrolled in the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, a federally recognized tribe in Oklahoma.

Name

The name Wea is used today as the a shortened version of their numerous recorded names. The Wea name for themselves (autonym) in their own language is waayaahtanwa, derived from waayaahtanonki, 'place of the whirlpool', where they were first recorded being seen and where they were living at that time.

The many different spellings of the tribe's name include Waiatanwa, Ouaouiatanoukak, Aoiatenon, Aouciatenons, Ochiatenens, Ouatanons, Ouias, Ouiatanon, Wah-we-ah-tung-ong, Warraghtinooks, and Wyatanons. French explorers wrote about them in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Another Miami sub-tribe, the Pepikokia were a separate tribe until 1742 but then later became part of the Wea tribe. In the 18th century, the Wea, Miami, and Piankashaw remained distinct tribes. The Wea population of 1765 is estimated to have been around 1,200.

In the early 18th century, Wea people settled in villages along the Wabash River between what would become Terre Haute and Logansport, Indiana. They established a large settlement called Ouiatenon, near what is now Lafayette, and the French colonists established Fort Ouiatenon, which facilitated trade with the Wea and Kickapoo. The Wea first were neutral during the American Revolution but later joined the Miami in fighting with the British. The Wea were forced to move to Missouri and Arkansas in 1820. which became Oklahoma.

With increased Euro-American settlement and the United States's policy of Indian removal, the US federal government made many treaties with these tribes.

In 1854, the Wea signed a treaty that merged them politically with other remnant tribes of the Illinois Confederacy to become the Confederated Peoria Tribe. The Miami people also joined the Confederated Peoria Tribe in 1873.

Signed treaties

Below are some of the many Treaties were made between the US and the Wea.

  • Treaty of Greenville, Aug 3, 1795

Treaty of Castor Hill 1832 in Article 4:

"The United States will also afford some assistance to that part of the Wea tribe now residing in the State of Indiana, to enable them to join the rest of their tribe on the lands hereby assigned them,...."

Notable Wea people

  • Stone Eater, 18th-century Wea war chief

Notes

References

  • Callender, Charles, "Miami," in Handbook of North American Indians, Raymond D. Fogelson, ed. (Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 2004), 681–89.
  • Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, official website