Description
During the late 1700s and early 1800s, the Omaha were briefly the most powerful Indians on the Great Plains. The Omaha Reservation lies primarily in the southern part of Thurston County and northeastern Cuming County, Nebraska, but small parts extend into the northeast corner of Burt County and across the Missouri River into Monona County, Iowa. The Omaha people migrated to the upper Missouri area and the Plains by the late 17th century from earlier locations in the Ohio River Valley. The Omaha tribe began as a larger Eastern Woodlands tribe comprising both the Omaha, Ponca and Quapaw tribes.
Language
Dhegiha branch of the Siouan language
Culture
As with many other Plains Indian tribes, the traditional Omaha economy combined maize agriculture with hunting and gathering. Omaha social organization was elaborate, with a class system of chiefs, priests, physicians, and commoners. Rank was inherited through the male line, although individuals could raise their status by distributing horses and blankets or providing feasts. Traditional Omaha kinship was organized into 10 clans within two larger groups, representing earth and sky. Earth clans had charge of ceremonies concerning war and food supply, while the ceremonies overseen by the sky clans were designed to secure supernatural aid.