WINNEBAGO

a Siouan-speaking tribe of North American Indians who lived in what is now eastern Wisconsin when first encountered by the French explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634. Settled in permanent villages of dome-shaped wigwams, the Winnebago cultivated corn (maize), squash, beans, and tobacco. They also participated in communal bison hunts in the prairies to the southwest. They were divided into exogamous clans that were grouped into two major divisions, or phratries. The Upper (Air) division contained four clans, the Lower (Earth) division eight. Some clans had special functions, such as the adjudication of disputes, and each clan had customs relating to life crisis events. The major summer ceremonial was the Summer Medicine Dance, which included a secret ceremony for members of the Medicine Dance Society (a secret religious society open to both men and women), as well as public rituals. The Winter Feast was a clan ceremonial intended to increase war and hunting powers; the spring buffalo dance was a magical ceremonial for calling the bison herds. In response to the fur trade, the Winnebago began a westerly expansion during the mid-17th century. By the early 19th century they claimed most of southwestern Wisconsin and the northwestern corner of Illinois. This land was ceded to the U.S. government in a series of treaties. The Winnebago were involved in the Black Hawk War of 1832, after which the majority of the tribe was removed by the government to Iowa, then to Missouri and to South Dakota. In 1865 about 1,200 of the Winnebago settled in Nebraska near their old friends and allies the Omaha; the population of the Winnebago Reservation in Thurston county, Neb., in the late 20th century was less than 1,200. The larger body of Winnebago finally were moved back to Wisconsin, where, from 1875, they were allowed to remain. The present Winnebago Reservation in Wisconsin consists of portions of 10 counties in the southern part of the state and had a population of less than 400 in the late 20th century. The total number of Winnebago, including those living outside the reservations, has been estimated to be 2,000.