The Shawnee Indians lived in the Eastern Woodlands region, along with other tribes. They lived in wegiwas, and women planted and harvested crops while men hunted and fought. Tecumseh tried to unite tribes against the US government, and most Shawnee moved to Oklahoma after the Indian Removal Act.
The Shawnee Indians are a Native American tribe that has been traced back to at least the 1500s. They lived in a region known as the Eastern Woodlands, which includes today’s Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee’s Cumberland River Valley, and extends from the Atlantic coast to Mississippi River and from South Carolina to Canada. The Shawnee inhabited this area along with many other tribes including the Iroquois, Delaware and Cherokee. Today, most of the Shawnee tribes are found in Oklahoma.
While living in the Eastern Woods, the Shawnee lived in wegiwas or wigwams, which are domed-roofed cabins built using tree posts covered with bark or animal skins. Each of the villages had a large council house for religious meetings and ceremonies. Village women were responsible for planting and harvesting crops and gathering other supplies such as nuts, berries, roots, firewood, and bark. Men hunted, traded and fought in battle. The language of the tribe is one of many Algonquian languages. Shawun was the Algonquian word for Shawnee.
When European settlers arrived in the 1700s, the French and British fought each other over the American Indian trade. Fighting on the French side during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), the Shawnee Indians fought against the Iroquois tribe, who fought for the British. The British won the war in 1763, gaining control of all of North America, east of the Mississippi River.
When the American Revolution began in 1775, the Shawnee fought for the British in hopes of stopping settlers from coming to their territory. The British were defeated in 1783 and, after more battles, the Shawnee crossed the Mississippi River.
Tecumseh was an important leader in Shawnee history. The Shawnee chief sought to unite American Indian tribes against the United States government, believing he could protect Shawnee lands from settlers. Using his leadership and speaking skills, Tecumseh visited every Native American tribe from the Great Lakes to Florida as he worked to unite the tribes. Tenskwatawa, Tecumseh’s brother, aided him in these efforts. Tecumseh fought with the British against the Americans in the War of 1812 and lost his life in the 1813 Battle of the Thames.
When the US Congress passed the Indian Removal Act in 1830, most of the Shawnee Indians living in Ohio and Indiana moved to Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma. Of the four Shawnee tribes that exist today, only the Piqua Shawnee remain east of the Mississippi River. The Loyal Shawnee, Absentee Shawnee and Eastern Shawnee live in Oklahoma.
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