Prehistoric American Indians (15000 BCE – 1650 AD)

American Indians have a long history and deep connection with the land we now call Ohio. In fact, they lived here thousands of years before Europeans arrived. Nearly 15,000 years ago, the Paleo-Indians moved through current-day Ohio. The Paleo-Indians were highly nomadic. They lived in groups of 20-60 and hunted large animals (such as mastodons and mammoths) for food. The land of Ohio’s weather was very different than it is today. Since it was often very cold, these groups did not stay in one place for long. Rather, they traveled often and gathered fruit, nuts, and vegetables wherever they could find them. The Paleo-Indians chipped and flaked stone to turn it into spears and scrapers. These tools allowed them to hunt and make clothing out of animal skin.[1]

By the end of the Ice Age in 8000 BCE, thick forests grew all around Ohio. Rather than moving from place to place, people began to settle in one area for long periods. Between 800 – 200 BCE, the Adena and Hopewell people continued to hunt, fish, and gather fruits and nuts. Their lives were like those of their ancestors. However, Native peoples also invented new creations during this period, including baskets, pottery, and art and decorations made from polished slate. Native peoples also developed huge trade routes to exchange goods and information with other tribes.

The Adena Culture and Hopewell Culture are best known for their mounds.[2] The Adena and Hopewell peoples built these mounds by hand and used them for burials – to house the bodies of important tribal members – or as effigy mounds built in special patterns or shapes. Around 200 BCE, the Adena Culture had developed into the Hopewell culture. By 500 AD, the Hopewell Culture had stopped building earthworks.[3]

Historic American Indians (1650 – 1763 AD)

During the Prehistoric Period (500-1650 AD), the descendants of the Hopewell Culture began to grow maize, beans and squash, also called the “Three Sisters.” By planting these crops side-by-side, tribes learned how to tend to the land, build up healthy soil and grow more food. Because there was more food, more people were born, and the tribes got bigger.[4]

This eventually led to competition over resources such as land and hunting grounds. As tribes fought, they traded less often, and tribes began to develop their own culture. There are many historic American Indian tribes that lived in or around current-day Ohio, including the Shawnee, the Potawatomi, the Peoria, the Wea, the Piankashaw, the Wyandot, the Miami, the Seneca, the Cayuga, the Delaware, the Ottawa, the Kaskaskia, and the Kickapoo.

Before the 1670s, very few people from Europe settled in Ohio. By that time, many people had explored the Ohio River. However, only a few hundred people traveled to Ohio to trade furs with American Indian tribes or with military troops. By 1750 AD, there were less than 1,000 Europeans in Ohio and more than 100,000 American Indians.

While the British and French fought for control of North America, American Indian tribes made their own diplomatic and military plans. Sometimes, Europeans and American Indian tribes partnered with each other. Many tribes used these alliances to decide carefully what sides to take and how to control the British and the French so the tribes could keep economic and political power. In the end, these partnerships led to a string of wars, including the French-Indian Wars of 1754-1763. At the end of the war, Great Britain, France and Spain signed the Treaty of Paris of 1763. This agreement between countries gave the British control of Canada, the Ohio Country, and land east of the Mississippi, including Florida.[5]

This land gain upset many of the historic tribes. Most Ohio tribes supported the French in the war. Others in Ohio Country - the Delaware, the Shawnee, the Wyandot, and the Seneca – made agreements with the British. However, once the British won the war, they went back on those treaties by refusing to leave the Ohio Country and building military forts on the land.

Early Conflicts & American Indian Removal (1783 – 1880 AD)

Native peoples took good care of Ohio for hundreds of years, which made the land very valuable. In August 1785, a group of American Indian tribes came together to form the Western Confederacy. They declared that the Ohio River was the border between American settlers and American Indian land. Any settlers that tried to settle on the west side of the river would be trespassing on tribal lands.

In 1787, Congress passed a law called the Northwest Ordinance, which stated that once the population in a territory totaled over 60,000 people, then it would become a state. The Northwest Territory, where American Indians lived, consisted of six modern-day American states: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota.

Through the Northwest Ordinance, the newly created U.S. government over-promised these lands to tribal nations, revolutionary war veterans, and land speculators. These promises resulted in a series of wars called the American Indian Wars, which were fought by the now U.S. government and the American Indian Tribes. These wars lasted from 1789 to 1795. Over time, the United States stole sacred tribal lands from native peoples through a series of treaties. The Treaty of Greenville in 1795 forced tribes to give most of Ohio to the United States.[6] American Indian tribes were forced to assimilate (adopt the culture of America) or leave the lands where they had lived for many years.[7]

After the War of 1812, the U.S. government began officially removing American Indian tribes from lands east of the Mississippi River. Before 1812, the U.S. government hurt tribes by creating treaties, buying native land, and/or forcing American Indians to assimilate. In 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which took tribes away from their homelands at gunpoint and “resettled” them on Indian Reservations west of the Mississippi. Many American Indians died on the harsh trip known as the Trail of Death. By the 1880s, the United States forced most American Indians who used to live in the Ohio Country to resettle in Canada, around the Great Lakes, or in Oklahoma.

Modern American Indians (1880s – Present)

Today, there are 45 federally recognized Tribes who come from historic Ohio tribes (see the "Contacting Tribal Representatives" page for a list). For many years, state and local government agencies held down these tribes because they wrongly thought that their sovereign rights – granted by historic treaties - were somehow invalid. These agencies forced many American Indians to blend into American culture and enter Boarding Schools designed to erase American Indian culture. During the 1960-70s, the American Indian Movement tackled the deep-rooted issues of Boarding schools, poverty, and police violence against Native peoples. In 1978, Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIRFA). AIRFA gave tribes access to religious places, allowed tribes to own and use sacred objects, and gave tribes freedom to worship through ceremonials and traditional rites.[8] Congress passed these laws after American Indians fought for their rights for many years. For example, American Indians occupied Alcatraz Island in 1969 as part of a movement for tribal self-rule.[9]

Today, American Indian tribes still fight for social, political, and religious justice, food sovereignty, protection of tribal lands, and more. Indigenous activists share their stories on social media platforms such as TikTok and Instagram. American Indian peoples celebrate their rich heritage and preserve their language, oral traditions, and culture. They sit in the highest positions of federal government, are Poet Laureates, scientists, educators, actors, and more. In the rest of this guide, we’ve assembled resources to help you research about the history and culture of American Indian tribes, which endures today!