Otoe-Missouria Tribe

Background

The tribe writes that the name Nebraska comes from the Otoe-Missouria words Ni Brathge, "water flat," which they use for the Platte River, and that the state and river of Missouri are named for the Missouria. The Otoe-Missouria Tribe records that the Otoe and Missouria, with the Winnebago and Iowa, were once one tribe in the Great Lakes region. Their homelands took in parts of present-day Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. In the summer of 1804, the Otoe and Missouria were the first tribes to hold council with Lewis and Clark. The United States confined the people to a reservation on the Big Blue River in southeast Nebraska in 1855 and moved them to Oklahoma in 1881.

Visit and learn

Otoe-Missouria Tribe's own site

Tribal lands have their own laws. Check the nation's site before you visit.

Parks on its homelands

Gateway Arch National Park

The Tribe records that in the summer of 1804 the Otoe and Missouria were the first tribes to hold council with Lewis and Clark in their official role as representatives of President Jefferson, and that the captains handed the chiefs a document that offered peace while at the same time establishing the sovereignty of the United States over the tribe. The Tribe also notes that both the state and the river Missouri take their name from the Missouria people, who once controlled traffic and trade along the river and its tributaries. Source

Programs

• Jiwere-Nut'achi Wósgą Wókigo

  The tribe's language department archives knowledge of the Jiwere Nut'achi language, keeps an online dictionary, and holds weekly online classes.

  https://www.omtribe.org/wbw/jiwere-nutachi-language/·language

• Tribal Historic Preservation Office

  Set up in 2016, the office reviews federal projects in the tribe's current jurisdiction and in areas of historic Otoe-Missouria presence, and keeps an inventory of places important to the tribe.

  https://www.omtribe.org/who-we-are/culture/tribal-preservation/·preservation

• Wawaje Wednesdays

  A language department effort that asks people to wear ribbon work and other traditional clothing on Wednesdays, at school, work, and in daily life.

  https://www.omtribe.org/news/wawaje-wednesdays/·culture

Affiliations

• Walking in the Footsteps of our Ancestors (WFOA)

  A project with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the City of Lincoln, and the tribe's language department that reconnects the Otoe-Missouria to their homelands through art, commemorations, and a documentary.

  https://plains.unl.edu/wfoa-project-who-we-are/

Sources

• https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-01-30/html/2026-01899.htm
• https://www.omtribe.org/who-we-are/history/

Checked September 2026.

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