Peoria Tribe of Indians of OklahomaThe Peoria Tribe of Indians
of Oklahoma is a confederation of Kaskaskia, Peoria, Piankeshaw
and Wea Indians united into a single tribe in 1854. The tribes
which constitute The Confederated Peorias, as they then were
called, originated in the lands bordering the Great Lakes and
drained by the mighty Mississippi. They are Illinois or Illini
Indians, descendants of those who created the great mound
civilizations in the central United States two thousand to three
thousand years ago. Forced from their ancestral lands in
Illinois, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri, the Peorias were
relocated first in Missouri, then in Kansas and, finally, in
northeastern Oklahoma. There, in Miami, Ottawa County, Oklahoma
is their tribal headquarters. The Peoria Tribe of Indians of
Oklahoma is a federally-recognized sovereign Indian tribe,
functioning under the constitution and by-laws approved by the
Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior on August 13,
1997. Under Article VIII, Section 1 of th