Missouri Indian by Carl Bodmer.
The Missouria, or Missouri Indians, a Siouan tribe, lived in and gave their name to the state of Missouri. Their name means “one who has dugout canoes” in the Illinois language. In their own language, the Missouri called themselves Niúachi.
The tribe originated in the Great Lakes region before European contact. They belonged to the Chiwere division of the Siouan language family, along with the Ioway and Otoe tribes.
They began migrating South in the 1500s, and by 1600, the Missouria lived near the confluence of the Grand and Missouri Rivers and extended as far North as the Platte River. The French explorer Jacques Marquette contacted the tribe in 1673, paving the way for trade with the French.
At some point, the Missouria migrated West of the Missouri River into Osage territory, where they acquired horses and hunted buffalo.
The French explorer Etienne Veniard de Bourgmont visited them in the early 1720s and married a chief’s daughter. The couple settled nearby, and Veniard created alliances with the people. He built Fort Orleans in 1723 as a trading post near present-day Brunswick, Missouri, which was occupied until 1726.
In a war against the Sac and Fox in 1730, they were soundly defeated and scattered among the Kanza, Osage, and Otoe, but they recovered over time and reestablished their villages.
They suffered greatly from smallpox in 1829. In 1830 and 1854, they signed treaties with the U.S. government to cede their lands in Missouri. They soon relocated to the Otoe-Missouria reservation, created on the Big Blue River at the Kansas-Nebraska border. The U.S. pressured the two tribes to cede more land in 1876 and 1881. The government pressured the two tribes into ceding more land in 1876 and 1881, and most moved to a reservation in Indian Territory (Oklahoma). By 1885, only 40 known Missouria Indians remained.
Otoe-Missouria Indians, circa 1915, Red Rock, Oklahoma.
Today, they are federally recognized as the Otoe-Missouria Tribe, based in Red Rock, Oklahoma. The combined tribes have a population of about 3,050 people today.
More Information:
Otoe-Missouria Tribe
8151 Hwy 177
Red Rock, Oklahoma 74651
580-723-4466
©Kathy Alexander/Legends of America, updated October 2026.
Also See:
Native American Heroes and Legends
Native Americans – First Owners of America
Native American Photo Galleries
See Sources.