Illinois Confederation

group of 12–13 Native American tribes

thumb|Illinois Indian of the Kaskaskia Tribe, engraving based on drawing by General Georges-Henri-Victor Collot, 1796 The Kaskaskia (Miami–Illinois: Kaaskaaskia) were a historical Indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. They were one of about a dozen cognate tribes that made up the Illiniwek Confederation, also called the Illinois Confederation. Their longstanding homeland was in the Great Lakes region. Their first contact with Europeans reportedly occurred near present-day Green Bay, Wisconsin, in 1667 at a Jesuit mission station.

federally recognized Native American Nation

The Wea (Miami–Illinois: Waayaahtanwa) were a Miami–Illinois-speaking Native American tribe originally located in western Indiana. Historically, they were described as being either closely related to the Miami tribe or a sub-tribe of Miami.

The Piankeshaw, Piankashaw or Pianguichia were members of the Miami tribe who lived apart from the rest of the Miami nation, therefore they were known as Peeyankihšiaki ("splitting off" from the others, Sing.: Peeyankihšia - "Piankeshaw Person"). When European settlers arrived in the region in the 1600s, the Piankeshaw lived in an area along the south central Wabash River that now includes western Indiana and Illinois. Their territory was to the north of Kickapoo (around Vincennes) and the south of the Wea (centered on Ouiatenon). They were closely allied with the Wea, another group of Miamis.

The Michigamea were a Native American tribe in the Illinois Confederation. The Mitchigamea may have spoken an Algonquian or a Siouan language, and historical accounts describe them as not being fluent in the Illinois language. Little is known of them today.

Native American tribe

Native American ethnic group