Cahokia people

This article is about the former Native American tribe associated with the Illinois Confederation who repopulated the Cahokia mounds during the 1500s. For the Missippian people who originally built and inhabited the mounds, see Cahokia.

Cahokia
kahokiaki
Total population
extinct as a tribe, descendants may have merged into the Peoria people[1]
Regions with significant populations
present-day United States (Illinois)[1]
Languages
Miami-Illinois language
Religion
Indigenous religion

The Cahokia (Miami-Illinois: kahokiaki) were an Algonquian-speaking Native American tribe and member of the Illinois Confederation; their territory was in what is now the Midwestern United States in North America.[1]

At the time of European contact with the Illini/Illinois Confederation, the peoples were located in what would later be organized as the states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas. In the 17th-century, the Cahokia lived near the massive precontact earthwork complex that Americans named the Cahokia Mounds.[1] By then, Cahokia Mounds had been abandoned for centuries. The Cahokia people were not related to the residents of Cahokia Mounds, who were most likely Dhegiha Siouan-speaking peoples.[2]

  1. ^ a b c d May, Jon D. "Cahokia". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Retrieved August 26, 2023.
  2. ^ Emerson, Thomas E.; Pauketat, Timothy R. (2000). Cahokia: Domination and Ideology in the Mississippian World. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 24. ISBN 9780803287655.