Kickapoo

1 a member of the Algonquian people formerly inhabiting southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois

2 the Algonquian language of the Kickapoo people

The Kickapoos (Kickapoo: Kiikaapoa or Kiikaapoi) are one of the Algonquian speaking Native American tribes. According to the Anishinaabeg, the name "Kickapoo" (Giiwigaabaw in the Anishinaabe language and its Kickapoo cognate Kiwikapawa) means "Stands Here and there" and refers to the tribes migratory patterns. This interpretation is contested and generally believed to be a folk etymology.

There are three recognized Kickapoo tribes remaining in the United States: the Kickapoo of Kansas, the Kickapoo of Oklahoma, and the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas. There is another band in the Mexican state of Coahuila. There is also a large group in Arizona. Thus far the former two groups have been politically lumped with the Texas band. Additionally, Kickapoos live in small groups throughout the western United States. Around 3,000 people claim to be tribal members.

Language

The Kickapoo speak an Algonquian language closely related to that of the Sauk and Fox.

Reservations

There are three Kickapoo reservations, one in Kansas, one in Texas, and the other in Oklahoma.

Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Kansas

The Kickapoo Indian Reservation is located in the northeastern part of the state in parts of Brown, Jackson, and Atchison, counties. It has a land area of 612.203 km² (236.373 sq mi) and a resident population of 4,419 as of the 2000 census. The largest community on the reservation is the city of Horton. The other communities are:

• Muscotah
• Netawaka (most of the city, with all of the population)
• Powhattan
• Whiting
• Willis

Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Texas

The Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Texas is located on the Rio Grande River on the U.S.-Mexico border in western Maverick County, just south of the city of Eagle Pass, as part of the community of Rosita South. It has a land area of 0.4799 km² (118.6 acres) and a 2000 census population of 420 persons.

There are undetermined numbers of other Kickapoo in Maverick Couty, Texas, who constitute the South Texas Subgroup of the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. That tribe owns of non-reservation land in Maverick County, primarily to the north of Eagle Pass, and it has an office in that city.

Kickapoo Indian Reservation of Oklahoma

References

External links

• First nations - Kickapoo from Lee Sultzman
• The Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas
• Kickapoo Reservation, Kansas and Kickapoo Reservation, Texas United States Census Bureau
• Kickapoo State Park