Francis White Cloud. Portrait by George Catlin, circa 1844–1845. [Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art]

The Ioways did not live in what is now Missouri for much of the historical era.…

<em>Missouri Indian, Oto Indian, Chief of the Puncas</em>, portraits made by Karl Bodmer during an exploration of the Missouri River and its environs led by Prince Maximilian of Wied in 1833–1834. The Missouria man portrayed is Mahinkacha (Maker of Knives). [State Historical Society of Missouri Art Collection, <a href=https://digital.shsmo.org/digital/collection/art/id/477/> 1958.0007c1</a>]

When French explorer Robert La Salle passed by the mouth of the Missouri River in 1682, he wrote that on its banks…

Mo-Hon-Go (Sacred Sun), an Osage woman, and her child. [State Historical Society of Missouri, Image Collection, 021180]

The most powerful tribal group in the early history of Missouri was referred to as the Wah-…

Saukie and Fox on the St. Louis waterfront by Karl Bodmer, 1834. [State Historical Society of Missouri Art Collection, 1958.0010c2]

The Sac and Fox were not native to Missouri, but were significant in Missouri’s territorial and early…