ĭuring the 18th century the Missouria people suffered from epidemics of new infectious diseases, especially smallpox, which killed many in the tribe. This area was later set aside for them as the Otoe Reservation. After contact and continued pressure by European-Americans, they migrated to the territory of later Nebraska, settling near the Platte River. In 1700, Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville wrote that the Otoe and the Iowa lived with the Omaha tribe in territory to the west of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Jacques Marquette, the French explorer, included them on a 1673 map, placing the Otoe near the Des Moines and upper Iowa rivers. They first came into contact with Europeans in late 17th century. Meanwhile, the Otoe settled along what is now the Iowa– Minnesota border. By the late 17th century, the Missouria had settled near the Missouri and Grand rivers in what became Missouri. In the 16th century, the Iowa, Otoe, and Missouria broke away and moved to the south and west. They had once been a single tribe that included the ancestors of the Ho-Chunk, Winnebago and Iowa tribes. The Otoe and Missouria tribes both originated in Wisconsin in the Great Lakes region. Their language, the Chiwere language, is part of the Siouan language family. The tribe is made up of Otoe and Missouria peoples. The Otoe–Missouria Tribe of Indians is a federally recognized tribe, located in Oklahoma. Tribal religion, Native American Church, Christianity
