Omaha

Native America Legends.

The Omaha indians.

Introduction
The Omaha tribe began as a larger woodland tribe comprised of both the Omaha and Quapaw tribes. The original tribe inhabited the areanear the Ohio and Wabash rivers, near present-day Cincinnati, Ohio.

Localitation.
Their territory extended from near Yankton, South Dakota , south to Rulo, Nebraska, and up to 150 miles west, anarea of 35,600,000 acres. They had villages at Homer and Bellevue, Nebraska and probably several other locations up and down the river. Every eight to fifteen years they moved their village of 50-100lodges to clean ground and new hunting areas. In the beginning, it was their custom to build bark lodges; however, this was replaced with idea of teepees borrowed from the Sioux and earthen lodgesborrowed from their allies, the Pawnee.

History.
As the tribe migrated west it split into what became the Omaha tribe and the Quapaw tribes The Quapaw settled in what is now Arkansas and the Omahatribe, known as "those going against the wind or current" settled near the Missouri river in what is now northwestern Iowa. Conflict with the Sioux and the splitting off of part of the tribe into thePonca, forced the Omaha tribe to retreat to an area around Bow Creek, Nebraska.

Costums.
The tribe usually wore breech-cloths, buckskin dress, and moccasins. The men wore their hair in ascalp-lock, usually having the rest of the hair braided and hanging down on each side of their head. Polygamy was practiced, but the maximum number of wives that any one man could have was three. They are alsothe originators of the picturesque Omaha dance which soon became common to most of the plains tribes.

Curiosity
Omaha IndianThe Omaha were thriving as hunters and farmers when they firstencountered white fur traders around 1750 in the Bellevue area. Buffalo served as their primary provision, providing food, clothing, blankets, rope, moccasins, fuel, shelter, and utensils. To supplement...