Omaha

The Omaha lived along the Missouri and its tributaries in northeastern Nebraska. Their villages of earth lodges stood near fields of maize, while seasonal bison hunts carried families west onto the plains. Their name refers to people traveling against the current, recalling a riverine homeland shared with neighboring peoples such as the Ponca.

By the late eighteenth century the Omaha had a large village near the Missouri under the leadership of Blackbird. French traders came to exchange goods, and the village became an important center of the upper river trade. Smallpox struck in the winter of 1799–1800, killing Blackbird and many of his people. In 1804 members of the Lewis and Clark expedition visited the village while its inhabitants were away hunting.