The Iowas

Some scholars believe the Sioux name for the Iowa—Santee and Yankton Ayúxba and Lakota ayúxwa—literally translate to ‘sleepy ones’. Anthropological linguist Douglas Parks claims this is among several folk etymologies “that have no linguistic basis.” He also finds that several Algonquian names for the Iowa including names from the Foxes, Kickapoos, and Shawnees, have no known literal meanings other than being the name of the Iowa People—from which the state derives its name. By the late 17th century, writers employed numerous variant spellings. The Lewis and Clark expedition journalists used Aieway, Aiaouez, Ayauwais, and Ayauwa.^[2]Douglas R. Parks, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, ed. Raymond J. DeMallie (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001), 445.

Iowa culture blended lifeways and customs of their neighbors: Horticulture and a well-defined, patrilineal class system was learned from the Sioux, a clan system was adapted from Algonquian-speaking neighbors, and like the Plains culture, they practiced the summer village method of hunting the American bison.^[3]Mildred Mott Wedel, Handbook of North American Indians: Plains Vol. 13, 432.

The Iowas were among the first Native Americans to establish trade relations with Europeans. Their trade agreement with French explorer and trader Nicolas Perrot in 1686 set off hostile relations between the Iowas and the Sauks and Foxes, Potawatomis, and Kickapoos. A century later, the Iowa’s location on the Des Moines River enabled them to trade with both the Spanish from St. Louis and the English to the north. In December 1785, Spanish governor of Louisiana reported that the Iowa were middlemen between England and the Otoes.^[4]Miró to Rengel, New Orleans, December 12, 1785 in Before Lewis and Clark: Documents Illustrating the History of the Missouri 1785–1804, ed. A. P. Nasatir, Bison Books edition. (Lincoln: … Continue reading

Before the Lewis and Clark Expedition headed up the Missouri River, Clark and Lewis sent a written speech to the Iowa informing them of the transfer of Louisiana and asking them to send a delegation to Washington City. In the past, the Iowas proved their willingness to send emissaries. In 1757, ten Iowas traveled to Montreal with the two members accused of murdering two French men, and they won their pardon. The captains’ invitation was also accepted, and Iowa delegates would join with Arikaras, Poncas, Omahas, and Otoes as part of Too Né’s Washington City delegation. Clark could not have known about the Iowa’s positive response, and he did not hold out much hope of establishing American trade with them. In the “Estimate of the Eastern Indians,” he wrote:

They are a turbulent savage race, frequently abuse their traders, and commit depredations on those ascending and descending the Missouri. Their trade cannot be expected to increase much.^[5]Moulton, Journals, 3:406.

In 1812, Clark would personally escort another Iowa delegation to Washington. In transit, they found out that war with England had been declared. The War of 1812 split the Iowas into two factions: those allied with the Americans and those with England. Further degrading their way of life, lands claimed by the Iowa along the lower Missouri were given to War of 1812 veterans resulting in hostility and animosity between settlers and the Iowas.^[6]Wedel, 435.

As Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Clark would join with Michigan governor Lewis Cass to negotiate the 1825 Treaty of Prairie du Chien. The Iowas were a party at the invitation of Clark. The treaty sought peace between the area nations, affirm current tribal boundaries, and put off land cessions to a later date.^[7]For a fuller description, see Jay H. Buckley, William Clark: Indian Diplomat (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2010), 97,172–175. Land cessions did eventually come along with the Great Nemaha Reservation in 1837 and the Iowa Reservation in 1854.

Starting in 1878, the Iowa people would be organized into two reservations. Today, the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma is one of two federally recognized Iowan tribes. The other, the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, is headquartered in White Cloud, Kansas in the Iowa Reservation.^[8]“Ioway Reservation,” “Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska,” “Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma,” and “Iowa People,” Wikipedia, … Continue reading