Shawnee

The Shawnee are a Native American people of the Algonquian language family who historically inhabited the Ohio River valley and adjacent portions of the central and southern Great Lakes region. They lived in scattered villages along rivers, practiced agriculture, hunting, and fishing, and formed a loose federation of towns and bands that interacted through trade and alliances with neighboring peoples and European colonists.

Shawnee is also the name of their language, an Algonquian tongue spoken by the Shawnee people. Today it is endangered, with revitalization initiatives led by tribal communities and language programs in Oklahoma and elsewhere. Distinct Shawnee communities arose over time, including those in present-day Ohio, Kentucky, and Missouri before large-scale removal.

European contact began in the 17th century, and the Shawnee played roles in conflicts such as the Northwest Indian War, the American Revolutionary War, and the War of 1812. Notable leaders included Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (the Prophet), as well as the eighteenth-century war chief Blue Jacket. In the 1830s most Shawnee were relocated from their eastern homelands to Indian Territory, now Oklahoma, under federal removal policies; some Shawnee remained in Ohio and surrounding areas.

Today, descendants of the Shawnee are enrolled in several federally recognized tribes in Oklahoma, including the Absentee-Shawnee Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma, the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, and the Shawnee Tribe, and exist in other states. The toponym Shawnee is widely used in the United States for towns, counties, forests, and other places, including Shawnee, Oklahoma; Shawnee, Kansas; Shawnee National Forest in Illinois; and Shawneetown, Illinois.

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