Potawatomi - An Algonquian tribe, their name is a translation of the Ojibwe "potawatomink" meaning "people of the place of fire."  The Potawatomis are original residents of what is now Michigan state, but efore they came to the Great Lakes region they had been a branch of a single nation with the Anishinaabe and the Ottawa. As more Indian tribes were forced westward into the Michigan and Wisconsin area, many Potawatomi people migrated into other parts of the Midwest, including Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Ontario, Canada. They now have a reservation in Kansas and lands in Oklahoma, but communities still exist in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Powhatans - The Powhatans were original residents of what is now Virginia, where they famously interacted with the Jamestown colony. British attacks drove them northward, and most of the surviving descendants currently live in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  The Powhatan Indians all speak English today as their original language has long been lost.

Pueblo - The Pueblo, which is Spanish for "town or village," are one of the oldest cultures in the U.S. Archaeologists have traced back their civilization 2000 years, but their ancestors, the Anasazi can be traced back 7000 years. The Pueblo peoples comprise a number of southwest tribes who share a culture centered about the pueblo, a village composed of mud and stone structures formed like irregular apartments. Many of these structures had no doors or windows and could only be entered from above by ladders, making them particularly well suited to military defense. The tribes that make up this cultural group are diverse with respect to language. The pueblo tribes are the Hopi and Zuni on the Colorado plateau, and by the Rio Grande, the Piro, Tewa, Tiwa, Towa, and Keres. The Pueblo Indians are best known for their agricultural skills, having cultivated corn, or maise, for thousands of years. The Spanish encountered the Pueblo people as early as 1539. When the Spanish founded Santa Fe In 1610 they put all the Pueblos under their authority. When the Keres rebelled, they were brutally dealt with. However, when the Spanish attempted to suppress the Pueblo peoples' religion, the Indians fought back enmasse in 1680 and were able to force the Spanish to withdraw from Santa Fe. It would be another twelve years before the Spanish were able to recapture Santa Fe. This time, the Spanish relaxed their demands.  It was during this period, the Pueblos became the first Indians to acquire horses, which soon spread across the plains, changing the native way of life. Many Pueblo Indians still live at century old pueblos including Taos, Isleta, Jemez, San Juan, San Ildefonso, and six others.

Quapaw - A  Siouan tribe, closely related to the Kansa, Omaha, Osage, and Ponca, their name translates to "Downstream People," so called from a tradition that they went down the Missouri River while the rest of the Sioux went upriver. The Quapaw people historically resided on the west side of the Mississippi River in what is now the state of Arkansas. They are  identical with the Arkansa Nation. When they were encountered by the DeSoto expedition (1539-43), they were living in a fortified, walled city. In the larger villages, well crafted lodges were seen with most people living in long houses with domed roofs covered in bark. They practiced extensive agriculture, and in art, they were particularly noted for their pottery designs. Ironically, the Quapaw and French had an amicable relationship, for the French were usually at war with most other native tribes. In 1833, the Quapaw signed were forced out of Arkansas, relocating to Oklahoma where they remain today.

Rappahannock - In 1607, the Rappahannock were the dominant tribe of the Rappahannock River valley, maintaining thirteen villages along the north and south banks of the river that bears their name. The Rappahannock People first met Captain John Smith at their capital town "Topahanocke" on the banks of the river bearing their name, in December 1607. In an effort to solidify their tribal government in order to fight the state for their recognition, the Rappahannocks incorporated in 1921.In 1998, they elected the first woman chief to lead in Virginia since the 1700s, Chief G. Anne Richardson. Currently, the tribe is working on acquiring Federal Recognition, with six other Virginia Tribes.

Ree - See Arikara

Rogue River - A Native American group originally located in southern Oregon. This was not a single tribe, but rather group of tribes that French Canadian employees of the Hudson Bay Company called "coquins," meaning "rogues." The principal tribes commonly grouped under the generic name of Rogue River Indians were the Takelma, Shasta and different subtribes of the Coquille. After the Rogue River Wars in 1856, bands of the Rogue River were split between the Confederated Tribes of Siletz and the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community of Oregon, relocating to either the Siletz Indian Reservation north of the tribe's traditional lands or to the Grand Ronde Indian Reservation.

Sauk and Fox - The historic Sauk and Fox were well represented by a large delegation of 33 from Oklahoma and a smaller party of 16 from the band now living in Iowa. These two tribes, calling themselves respectively , 'Sagiwuk' and 'Muskwakiuk', are practically one people, speaking closely related dialects of one language and having been confederated from a very early period. Currently the tribes, known now as the Sac and Fox Nations, are located in Oklahoma and Iowa.

Salish/Flathead - This large and powerful division of the Salishan family, to which they gave their name, inhabited much of west Montana centered around the Flathead Lake and valley. They were called the Flathead Indians by the first white who came upon them. Though the name is often said to derive from the flat skull produced by binding infant's skulls with boards, this is a myth. The  tribe never practiced head flattening, but instead, were called "flat head" because the tops of their heads were not pointed like those of neighboring tribes who practiced vertical head-binding. The Flatheads call themselves Salish meaning "the people." They subsisting more by roots, berries and small game than by hunting large game, as they were cut off from the buffalo country by their powerful enemies, the Blackfeet. They lived in houses of bark and reeds, as well as the skin tipi.  Lewis and Clark estimated their population in 1806 to be 600, but by 1853 were said to have been reduced to just a little more than 300, primarily due to wars with the Siksika.  The Salish, along with the Pend d'Oreille and the Kootenai tribes, by the Treaty of Hell Gate on July 16, 1855, ceded to the United States their lands in Montana and Idaho. Today, they from part of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes who live on the 1.317 million acre Flathead Reservation in northwest Montana.

Seminole - Part of the Creek Confederation of tribes, the Seminole are primarily located in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. Though most of the Seminoles were forced west, along with other Native American Tribes, into Arkansas and Oklahoma in the 1800s, about 300 remained in Florida. 

Seneca - The Seneca tribe were divided into two separate entities: The Northeastern Seneca Indians from New York, and the Seneca Indians from Ohio.  The New York Seneca tribe became part of the Iroquois Nation, while the Ohio Seneca fought the Iroquois alongside the Algonquian Nation. The Ohio Seneca Indians were also known as the Mingo Indians, and are believed to have relocated to Ohio to avoid a takeover from the New York Seneca tribe.

Shawnee - An Algonquian tribe, the Shawnee were original inhabitants of modern-day Ohio, but were far-ranging people with villages located as far north as New York state and as far south as Georgia. Their name translates to "Southerners." During the French and Indian War, most Shawnee fought on the side of the French. During the Revolutionary War, the Shawnee fought on the side of the British. After the war, they fought in coalition with other tribes when the fledgling United States Army launched a major campaign against Little Turtle, Chief of the Miami. The result was the most crushing defeat ever suffered by the United States Army, which lost nearly two-thirds of its strength. Most Shawnee live in Oklahoma, but the Shawnee Nation United Remnant Band, what was left of the eastern Shawnee, have been officially recognized in the State of Ohio.

Shoshone - One of of the Great Basin tribes, the Shoshone occupied a vast area from Oregon to Southern Colorado. They were a hunter-gatherer tribe, and also domesticated horses which were used for the buffalo hunts. The Shoshone were a close relative of the Ute, Paiute, Gosiute, and Bannock Indian tribes, with whom they shared land and intermarried. More ...

Sioux - The Sioux, often referred to as the Lakota, are part of a band of seven tribes that speak three different dialects, the other two being the Dakota and the Nakota. The Lakota are the most western of the three groups, occupying lands in both North and South Dakota. The Dakota live mostly in Minnesota and Nebraska, while the smallest of the three, the Nakota, reside in South Dakota or Canada. Lakota meaning “friends” or “allies” is sometimes also spelled “Lakhota.” This band migrated west from Minnesota after the tribe began to use horses.  There were about 20,000 Lakota in the mid 18^th century, a number which has increased to about 70,000, of which approximately 1/3 still speak their ancestral language. The Lakota were defeated slowly by the wholesale slaughter of the buffalo by the U.S. Army and military police actions herding all Indians onto reservations and enforcing government food distribution policies to 'friendlies' only, culminating, fourteen years later, in the killing of Sitting Bull.  More ...

Snake - A name applied to many different bodies of Shoshonean Indians but most persistently to those of eastern Oregon, to which the following synonyms refer.  These Indians form one dialectic group with the Paviotso of west Nevada and the Mono of south east California. The principal Snake tribes were on the Walpapi and Yahooskin.

Susquehannock - The tribe occupied the Susquehanna River and its branches from the north end of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland across Pennsylvania into southern New York.  Called noble and heroic, they were also described as aggressive, warlike, imperialistic, and bitter enemies of the Iroquois. They may also have warred with the Mahican from the central Hudson Valley.  Today, the tribe is gone, but there is most likely Susquehannock blood among the members of the Delaware, Tuscarora, Oneida, and Oklahoma Seneca.

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