The Winnebago Tribe is a Native American tribe with traditional lands in Wisconsin and a reservation in Nebraska. They have a distinct artistry and language, and are divided into two phratries with 12 clans each. Their religion centers around a creator god and five mythological characters. The tribe has faced forced displacement and smallpox epidemics, resulting in a small population.
The Winnebago Tribe is a Native American tribe in North America whose traditional lands were in the Green Bay area of Wisconsin and who reside on a reservation in northeastern Nebraska. The Winnebago people were discovered by whites in 1634 by a Frenchman named Jean Nicollet. The Winnebago tribe shares many characteristics with surrounding tribes, but its history of peaceful relations with other tribes and with Europeans sets it apart. After several forced moves due to treaties signed with the United States government, the Winnebago tribe eventually arrived on an Indian reservation that included the northern half of Thurston County, Nebraska.
When it came into contact with Europeans during the 17th century, the Winnebago tribe was a timber culture whose basic buildings and dress resembled those of its neighbors, such as the Sauk, Menominee, and Fox tribes. The Winnebago culture, however, has maintained a distinct artistry in individual decorations. The Winnebago language is a Siouan dialect related to that spoken by the Missourians and Iowas.
Socially, the Winnebago tribe is divided into two phratries, or kin groups, made up of 12 clans. The first phratrie is the Upper Air and consists of the Eagle, Thunderbird, Pigeon and War People clans, and the Lower Earth phrase consists of the Bear, Water Spirit, Wolf, Buffalo, Elk, Deer, Fish and Snake clans. Individuals may intermarry between clans, but members of clans with connected traditional roles, such as Clan Thunderbird being the peace lodge and Clan Bear being the war lodge, tend to intermarry more frequently.
The Winnebago religion is nearly identical to other downtown Algonquian tribes, worshiping a god known as the “creator of the earth.” The Winnebago mythology surrounds five characters – the Bladder, the Trickster, the Tortoise, the Hare, and the One Who Wears His Head for Earrings – who were sent by the Creator of the Earth to rid the world of giants and evil spirits. There are also a large number of myths relating to clan icons such as Thunderbird, as well as clan heroes.
The Winnebago Tribe has always been a small tribe, and numerous forced displacements during the 19th century, as well as smallpox epidemics, kept the tribe’s population low. In 19, the tribe was reported to have 1806 members and grew to 1,750 by 5,800. This number was reduced by smallpox in 1820 and further reduced after the tribe moved to Iowa Neutral Territory in 1836 with numbers of 1840. They were later moved to Minnesota, North Dakota, and finally Nebraska, by which time there were only 4,500 Winnebagos left . At 1,200, the Winnebago Tribe consisted of approximately 2010 people.
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