Land area
Land of the Iowa, Medewakanton and others in Iowa, recorded 1830 (area 152)
In the record
The area covers about 2.2 million acres in what is now Iowa.
The 1899 record names Iowa, Meskwaki (Fox), Omaha, Oto, Sauk (Sac) and 3 more as the people of this land.
The record ties this land to 5 agreements: Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1830), Sauk, Fox, Sioux, Omaha, Iowa, Oto, Missouri, Sauk and Fox (Confederated Tribes) at Washington, DC (1837), Yankton Sioux at Washington, DC (1837), Sauk and Fox of Missouri at Washington, DC (1837) and Iowa at St. Louis, Missouri (1837). Which one ceded it has not been checked yet, so the map dates it by the first.
How it was taken: a treaty made under documented pressure. Treaties Matter says the U.S. threatened a military invasion and trade embargo before insisting on land cessions at the 1830 Prairie du Chien council.
Today, Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska, Iowa Tribe of Oklahoma, Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa, Omaha Tribe of Nebraska, Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahoma, Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraska and 17 more carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
- Crow Creek Sioux Tribe
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana
- Lower Brule Sioux Tribe
- Oglala Sioux Tribe
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate)
- Spirit Lake Tribe
- Standing Rock Sioux Tribe
Working with these nations
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate) Nation government Pe' Sla (1,942 acres, Nov 30, 2012)
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
- Lakota People's Law Project (program of Sacred Defense Fund) Native-led Legal advocacy Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Native-led Youth programs Website
- Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (Lakota Land Systems) Native-led Lakota-led regenerative community development on Pine Ridge: Lakota Land Systems Give on their site Website
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Great Plains Action Society Native-led ReMatriation, land defense, Protect the Sacred, regenerative economy, civic engagement in Iowa and eastern Nebraska Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
- Indian Law Resource Center Native-led Legal assistance to Indigenous nations to protect lands, resources, treaty and human rights Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 22
- Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Iowaas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Iowa Tribe of Oklahomamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Meskwaki (Fox)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Omahaas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Omaha Tribe of Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Otoas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Otoe-Missouria Tribe of Indians, Oklahomamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Sac & Fox Nation of Missouri in Kansas and Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Show all 22
- Sac & Fox Nation, Oklahomamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Sauk (Sac)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Sioux (as named in treaty records)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Sissetonas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyatematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Upper Sioux Community, Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Wahpetonas named in the 1899 recordsuggested
Agreements recorded for this land 5
- Treaty of Prairie du Chien (1830), Sauk, Fox, Sioux, Omaha, Iowa, Oto, Missouri1830suggested
- Iowa at St. Louis, Missouri (1837)1837suggested
- Sauk and Fox (Confederated Tribes) at Washington, DC (1837)1837suggested
- Sauk and Fox of Missouri at Washington, DC (1837)1837suggested
- Yankton Sioux at Washington, DC (1837)1837suggested
Located in 1
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1830-07-15primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1830-07-15primary record
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1837-10-21primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1837-10-21primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1837-11-23primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Iowa 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 152
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1830-07-15; 1837-10-21; 1837-11-23
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Iowa; Medewakanton; Missouri; Omaha; Oto; Sauk and Fox; Sioux (Wahpeton and Sisseton Bands); Wahpekuta
- States
- IA
- Counties
- Allamakee; Bremer; Butler; Chickasaw; Clayton; Fayette; Floyd; Franklin; Hamilton; Hardin; Webster; Winneshiek; Wright
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Iowa 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium