Monday, February 10, 2014

Legacy of American Indians in Indiana place names

I have enjoyed a number of conversations with people about the funny way we in Indiana say French derived names "Notre Dame" and "Versailles" or the diminutive size of "new Paris" Ohio, a town of 1,607 (as of 2012) near my hometown of Richmond. (A restaurant there recently held the second annual free lunch for the 2nd Amendment - show a hand gun permit, get a free lunch. A different blog post will discuss the hand gun laws in my state of origin). 

In my Thanksgiving resolution (I recognize that mixes holidays) was to educate myself about American Indians in the U.S.. Many more location names in my state bear the names and history of native peoples that we know and learn so little about. The Miami, a featured name in multiple places in the U.S. - Miami University in Oxford, OH and Miami, Florida -  is not derived from the same group forcefully migrated. That's what I had always thought and it is quite easy to suspect given the awful and horrific forced movement of native peoples in the U.S.. Instead:

Miami, pronounced my-AM-ee, is a common place name in the United States. but in different parts of the country it has different origins. In Florida, for example, it probably come from Mayaimi, the name of a CREEK village. In Oregon, it comes from the CHINOOK word memoir, meaning "downstream." In the Midwest and Southwest, however, it comes from an Algonquian tribal name, probably meaning, "people of the peninsula."  

Another fun fact is that Munice, the name of a city a bit north of where I grew up is the name of a northern band of Algonquian speaking bands originating in the East, some of who moved to the Indiana, Ohio river area in the mid-1700s (and were later pushed further again). 

Other cities bear names I should definitely investigate more some day: Shipshewana, Kokomo, Mishawanka and this list of cities in Indiana related to Native American names, taken from this book, Native American place Names of Indiana.  

Greenville, Ohio where my cousin lives has quite a history as well : Fort Greenville was the site of a treaty in 1795 which ceded all of Ohio and most of Indiana to the whites after battles with general "mad" Anthony Wayne (of whom Fort Wayne, Indiana is named) and the Battle of Fallen Timbers in which hundreds of Indians died. (Waldman, 137) 

About half of the Miami relocated to Kansas. Some stayed in Indiana but gradually lost their lands by 1897 they were longer recognized by the federal government. Quoting Waldman, "They have managed to maintain their tribal identity as the Miami Nation of Indiana. In 1990, they established tribal offices in Peru, Indiana, and, in 1992, purchased a sacred site along the Mississinewa River." (137) Peru, Indiana sounds like a place I should visit someday. 

The Shawnee also lived in Indiana for a time eventually settling in Kansas. The "Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band" was recognized by Ohio in 1980. Some descendants managed to stay in Ohio and Indiana following Tecumseh's defeat. 

Even the cars we drive - Pontiac - is named after a native people. The Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania have a case claiming they should be paid a fee for the use of their name in marketing. Seems fair to me. 

There is currently a beautiful commercial on TV about the use of the name of "red" in sports teams.  Agreed - An NFL team should not be called the Red Skins. 


All these names that surround us in Indiana - Kentucky, Detroit, Chillicothe, Tippecanoe River - all American Indian names and yet few of us know and remember little of this history. Of the culture traditions of these people, of the violence at the hands of the whites and the unfair and horrific treaties even in the absence of physical violence that structurally stymied the progress or any potential progress of these groups.  

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Information unless otherwise cited from Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. 3rd Edition. New York. 
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This is an article about the early white settlement of my county - Wayne County in Indiana. Done by teenagers. It mentions tensions with native peoples. You think? 

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