Iowa people
Lithograph of Iowa delegate made while they were visiting Paris in 1845 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| estimated 2,567 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Kansas, Nebraska, and Oklahoma) | |
| Languages | |
| English, formerly Chiwere | |
| Religion | |
| Indigenous religion, Native American Church, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Otoe, Missouria, Ho-Chunk, and other Siouan peoples |
| People | Báxoje |
|---|---|
| Language | Báxoje ich'é, Hand Talk |
| Country | Báxoje Máyaⁿ |
The Iowa, also known as Ioway or Báxoje (Iowa-Oto: Báxoje ich'é, "grey snow people"), are a Native American tribe. Historically, they spoke a Chiwere Siouan language. Today, they are enrolled in either of two federally recognized tribes: the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma and the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska.
The Iowa, Missouria, and Otoe tribes were all once part of the Ho-Chunk people and were all Chiwere language speakers. They left their ancestral homelands in Southern Wisconsin for Eastern Iowa, a state that bears their name.
In 1837, the Iowa were moved from Iowa to reservations in Brown County, Kansas, and Richardson County, Nebraska. Bands of Iowa were forced into Indian Territory in the late 19th century and settled south of Perkins, Oklahoma, to become the Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma.