Ponka , Ponca (self-name: Pa? Ka iye ,? P? A? K? A ) is an Indian nation made up of two federally recognized tribes: the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and the Ponca Indian tribe of Oklahoma.
| Ponka | |
|---|---|
| Abundance and area | |
| Total: 6700 [1] [2] | |
 Oklahoma  Nebraska | |
| Tongue | English , Omaha Ponca |
| Religion | Native American Church , Christianity |
| Related peoples | Omaha (people) and other Sioux |
Early History
During the first contact with the Europeans, the Ponca lived near the mouth of the Nyobrara River in northern Nebraska . [3] According to one version of the tradition, the tribe moved to these lands from the territory east of the Mississippi River shortly before Columbus arrived in America. According to another version, the resettlement took place in the second half of the 17th century, and thus the outcome of a group of related Dehiha Sioux tribes from the Ohio River Valley can be considered as a consequence of the Beaver Wars . Ponka are marked on the map of 1701, which was composed by Pierre-Charles Le Sueur ( en: Pierre-Charles Le Sueur ), as living on the Missouri River . In 1789, fur trader Juan Baptiste Munier ( en: Juan Baptiste Munier ) obtained an exclusive license to trade from a ponka at the mouth of the Nieobrara, founded a trading post at the confluence of the Niebrara in Missouri, and noted that the tribe at that time was 800 people. Shortly thereafter, the tribe's population declined dramatically due to the smallpox epidemic, and in 1804, when the Lewis and Clark expedition visited their lands, there were only 200 people. By the end of the XIX century, their number increased to 700. Unlike most Indians of the Great Plains, the Ponka engaged in agriculture, grew corn, and kept vegetable gardens.
The Ponk tribe signed a peace treaty with the United States in 1817. In the second treaty, trade issues were settled in 1825, an attempt was made to minimize tribal clashes on the Northern Plains. The last successful bison hunt was conducted by the Ponk Indians in 1855. [3]
In 1858, the Ponka tribe was forced to sign a new treaty, according to which they ceded part of their land in exchange for "protection" and permanent residence in Niyobra. In 1868, the lands of the Ponka were mistakenly included in the Sioux Big Reservation, after which the Ponca were repeatedly subjected to raids by the Sioux , who regarded their land as their property.
Forced relocation
When in 1876 the US Congress decided to relocate some northern tribes to Indian territory (now Oklahoma ), the Ponk tribe was also included in the list. After examining the land, which was proposed by the US government for a new reservation, the leaders of the tribe recognized them unsuitable for farming and refused to relocate. Therefore, when at the beginning of 1877 government representatives arrived at the ponk to arrange their move to a new place, the leaders refused, referring to the previous agreement. Most of the tribe also refused to move, so they were forcibly relocated. In a new place, the Ponca tribe suffered from malaria, malnutrition and a hot climate, and every fourth died in the first year.
The Standing Bear Process
Chief Standing Bear was among those who most actively protested against forced relocation. When his eldest son, the Shield of the Bear, was dying, Standing Bear promised to bury him on the lands of his ancestors. To fulfill his promise, Standing Bear left the reservation in Oklahoma and went to the native lands of the Ponka tribe. He was soon arrested for doing so without government permission. This led to a court in which on May 12, 1879, Judge Elmer Dundee ruled that “the Indian is human” in the sense of habeas corpus , and that the government did not provide sufficient grounds to limit the movement of the Ponk Indians to a certain territory. [4] . Thus, for the first time in American law, it was established that Indians are “people in the sense of the law,” and that, as a result, they have certain rights.
Miscellaneous
In 1918, two Ponca Indians in Oklahoma, Frank Eagle and Louis MacDonald, participated in the founding of the Church of Native Americans . [five]
Notes
- ↑ Oklahoma Indian Affairs. Oklahoma Indian Nations Pocket Pictorial Directory. Archived February 11, 2009 at Wayback Machine 2008: page 28.. Retrieved August 8, 2009.
- ↑ hp About the Ponca Tribe. Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. . Retrieved August 8, 2009.
- ↑ 1 2 Karr, Steven. A Brief History of the Ponca Tribe. The Official Website of the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma. (retrieved 8 August 2009)
- ↑ Elmer S. Dundy , J. United States, ex rel. Standing Bear, v. George Crook, a Brigadier- General of the Army of the United States . The Avalon Project at Yale Law School (1879). Date of treatment March 13, 2007. Archived April 6, 2012.
- ↑ Van de Logt, Mark. Ponca. Oklahoma Historical Society's Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History & Culture. 2009 (8 August 2009)
Literature
- Stukalin Yu. A good day for death. - "Geleos", 2005. - 384 p. - ISBN 5-8189-0323-0 .
- Stukalin Yu. Encyclopedia of military art of the Indians of the Wild West . - Moscow: “Yauza” and “Eksmo”, 2008. - 688 p. - ISBN 978-5-699-26209-0 .