This text is ethno-history of the Ioway Indians, whose influence stemmed partly from the strategic location of their homeland between the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Beginning with archaeological sites in the northeast Iowa, it traces Ioway history from ancient to modern times.
Beginning with archaeological sites in northeast Iowa, Martha Royce Blaine traces Ioway history from ancient to modern times. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, French, Spanish, and English traders vied for the tribe's favor and for permission to cross their lands. The Ioways fought in the French and Indian War in New York, the War of 1812, and the Civil War, but ultimately their influence waned as they slowly lost control of their sovereignty and territory. By the end of the nineteenth century, the Ioway were separated in reservations in Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory. A new preface by the author carries the story to modern times and discusses the present status of and issues concerning the Oklahoma and the Kansas and Nebraska Ioways.
Martha Royce Blaine received the B.S. degree from the University of Illinois and the M.S. in sociology and anthropology from Oklahoma State University. For merly Chief Curator of Museums and Chief Archivist for the Indian Archives Division, in the Oklahoma History Society, she is now a writer and anthropologist.