SHAWNEE INDIANS IN KENTUCKY

THE SHAWNEE ARE ALGONQUIAN SPEAKING PEOPLE NATIVE TO OHIO, VIRGINIA, MARYLAND, KENTUCKY AND INDIANA. THEY ARE FEDERALLY RECOGNIZED. TODAY THEY ARE FEDERALLY HEADQUARTERED IN OKLAHOMA. MANY THOUSANDS OF YEARS AGO THEIR ANCESTORS WERE THE PALEO INDIANS WHO WERE HUNTERS AND GATHERERS. THEY HUNTED MEGAFAUNA SUCH AS BISON , MASTODON, AND CARIBOU. THEY WERE DESCENDANTS OF THE FORT ANCIENT CULTURE OF OHIO WHO THRIVED FROM 1000 TO 1650A.D. THEY DESCENDED FROM THE HOPEWELL CULTURE OF 100 B.C. TO 500 A.D. - A MOUND BUILDER FOLK.

THEY WERE SEVERELY AFFECTED BY THE WAVES OF THEY WERE SEVERELY AFFECTED BY THE WAVES OF EPIDEMICS FROM NEW SPANISH EXPLORERS. THERE IS A GAP IN THE ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD BETWEEN RECENT FORT ANCIENTS AND THE OLDER SHAWNEE SITES. IT IS ACCEPTED THAT SIMILARITIES IN MATERIAL CULTURE, ART, MYTHOLOGY AND ORAL HISTORY LINK THEM TO FORT ANCIENTS.

AFTER 1600 THEY OCCUPIED MANY VILLAGES. ACCORDING TO A LEGEND THE SHAWNEES DESCENDED FROM A PARTY SENT BY CHIEF OPECHANCANOOUGH IN THE SHENANDOAH VALLEY.. ONE HISTORIAN SPECULATES THEY MIGRATED IN LATE 1700'S BY IROQUOIAN WARS. THEY TRADED WITH NUMEROUS TRIBES. THEY BECAME LEADERS AMONG NUMEROUS TRIBES. THE MINGO, DELAWARE, AND SHAWNEE WERE CLOSELY ASSOCIATED WITH ONE ANOTHER. THERE WERE 60 YEARS OF WAR.

DURING THE 1800'S TECUMSEH, A GREAT SHAWNEE LEADER CONVINCED MANY TO JOIN HIS CAUSE AND STOP FIGHTING. HE DIED IN 1813. HIS BROTHER TRIED TO UNITE THE EASTERN TRIBES AGAINST EUROPEAN EXPANSION.

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