The Pawnee are a Plains nation whose homeland was along the rivers of present-day Nebraska and Kansas. They lived in villages of large earth lodges, farmed corn, beans and squash, hunted bison twice a year, and used detailed knowledge of the stars to time their year. Forced south in 1875, they are today the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma, a sovereign nation with about 3,200 citizens.
The Pawnee quick facts
- The Pawnee are a living nation: the Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma has its own government, courts and about 3,200 enrolled citizens.
- They had four bands: the Chaui, Kitkehahki, Pitahawirata and Skidi.
- They lived in permanent earth lodges up to 12 m across, and used tipis only on bison hunts.
- The Skidi band kept a star chart on hide and used the smoke hole of a lodge to track stars and time the planting year.
- By 1875 almost all Pawnee had been removed from Nebraska to Indian Territory, now Pawnee County, Oklahoma.
The first thing to say about the Pawnee is that they are still here. The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma is a sovereign nation today, with its own government, courts and around 3,200 enrolled citizens. A great deal of writing about Native peoples slips into the past tense. It treats these nations as though they had finished. They did not.
What follows is their history and their culture, and how both continue now.
Who are the Pawnee?
The Pawnee are a Plains people. Their homeland lay along the Platte, Loup and Republican rivers. That land is now Nebraska and northern Kansas. They have lived in that region for many centuries; the Nation counts its history there in the hundreds of years.
They were never one single group. The Pawnee were made up of four bands. Each had its own villages and its own leaders. They acted together when it mattered:
- Chaui — the Grand band
- Kitkehahki — the Republican band
- Pitahawirata — the Tappage band
- Skidi — the Wolf band, the most distinct of the four
In the early 1700s there were more than 10,000 Pawnee people. They were one of the largest and most powerful nations on the central plains.
Villages, earth lodges and the two-season year
The Pawnee were not nomadic, and they were not settled farmers either. They were both. Their year had a rhythm that used the plains more cleverly than either way alone.
For most of the year they lived in permanent villages of earth lodges. These were large round buildings. A wooden frame was packed over with soil and sod. A single lodge could be more than 12 metres across and house several related families, sometimes thirty or forty people. They were cool in summer, warm in winter, and lasted for years.
Around the villages, women grew corn, beans, squash and sunflowers. Pawnee corn was famous, and they kept many distinct varieties.
Then, twice a year, the whole village packed up and left for the bison hunt. They lived in tipis for weeks at a time, because a tipi can be carried. When the hunt ended they came home to the lodges. Farming and hunting were not alternatives; they were two halves of one year.
The Pawnee were remarkable astronomers
This is the part most guides leave out, and it is the most striking thing about them.
The Skidi band tracked the night sky in detail and built their world around it. Every earth lodge faced east. The smoke hole in the roof worked as an observatory. From inside the dark lodge, a priest watched certain stars cross the opening. That told him exactly where the year had reached.
Star positions told them when to plant. Each ceremony had its own stars. The Skidi even kept a star chart painted on tanned hide, one of the very few Native star maps to survive, now held by the Field Museum in Chicago.
Village positions themselves were laid out to mirror the arrangement of stars. That is a society that organised its geography around the sky.
How the Pawnee governed themselves
Each band had its own chiefs. Leadership was partly inherited, but it still had to be earned. A chief who made poor decisions lost influence. So did one who failed to look after his people, whatever his family.
Chiefs governed alongside priests and doctors. The priests held the ceremonial knowledge. The doctors healed. Power was shared between these roles rather than concentrated in one person. Decisions of any weight were talked through in council rather than simply announced.
Sacred bundles mattered enormously. Each village kept a wrapped bundle of objects. The bundle was tied to the village’s origin and its ceremonies. Whoever looked after it carried real responsibility for everyone.
Art and craftsmanship
Pawnee work was made to be used. Painted rawhide containers called parfleches carried dried meat and belongings. They were decorated in bold geometric patterns. Buffalo hides were tanned, sewn and painted. Quillwork, and later glass beadwork, decorated clothing and moccasins.
Much of it carried meaning rather than just decoration. Patterns could record events, mark a person’s standing, or refer to the stars and the ceremonies attached to them.
Neighbours, allies and enemies
The Pawnee traded widely across the plains, exchanging corn for meat, hides and horses. They also fought, particularly with the Sioux and the Cheyenne, in long conflicts over hunting ground.
From the 1860s, a number of Pawnee men served with the United States Army as the Pawnee Scouts. This is worth understanding rather than simply admiring. The Pawnee were under severe pressure, from other nations and from settlers. Joining the US Army was a hard choice. It was made by people trying to protect their families. It did not save their homeland.
What happened to the Pawnee
The nineteenth century was catastrophic. Diseases brought by Europeans swept through the crowded villages. Smallpox and cholera were the worst. They killed thousands of people who had no immunity. Settlers took land and timber. The bison herds the Pawnee depended on were destroyed.
Under mounting pressure from the US government, the Pawnee left Nebraska. By 1875 almost all of them had been removed south to Indian Territory, in what is now Pawnee County, Oklahoma.
The scale of the loss is hard to take in. From more than 10,000 people in the early 1700s, the Pawnee population fell to a few hundred by the end of the 1800s. They very nearly ceased to exist.
The Pawnee today
The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognised sovereign nation with roughly 3,200 enrolled citizens. It has its own constitution and an elected Nation Council. It has its own courts and its own police. It runs schools, health services and businesses.
Every year the Pawnee Homecoming brings people back for a powwow. It has run since 1946. It began as a welcome home for Pawnee servicemen. Work continues to teach and revive the Pawnee language. Very few fluent first-language speakers are left.
The Nation has also worked to bring ancestors home. Under American law, museums and universities must return Native human remains and sacred objects to their nations, and the Pawnee have used it to reclaim ancestors taken from their graves and held in collections for over a century.
Things people get wrong
- “The Pawnee no longer exist.” The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma is a functioning sovereign government with thousands of citizens.
- “Plains tribes were all nomads in tipis.” The Pawnee lived most of the year in permanent villages of large earth lodges, and farmed. Tipis were for the hunting season.
- “They were simple hunter-gatherers.” They farmed several crops, ran a complex system of shared authority, and kept detailed astronomical knowledge used to time the farming year.
- “They chose to move to Oklahoma.” Removal in 1875 followed epidemic disease, the destruction of the bison, loss of land and sustained government pressure.
- “Native American history is prehistory.” The Pawnee had complex societies, governments and recorded knowledge. This is history, and much of it happened within the last two hundred years.
You can read more in our guides to Native American peoples and the Miami Tribe Facts for Kids, or explore much earlier human history in Stone Age Facts For Kids – Learn All About Stone Age.
Common questions
Where did the Pawnee live?
Along the Platte, Loup and Republican rivers in present-day Nebraska and northern Kansas. Since 1875 the Pawnee Nation has been based in Pawnee County, Oklahoma.
What kind of houses did the Pawnee build?
Large round earth lodges, up to about 12 metres across, made of a timber frame covered in soil and sod. Several families shared one. Tipis were used only during bison hunts.
What did the Pawnee eat?
Corn, beans, squash and sunflowers grown near their villages, plus bison and other game taken on the two hunts each year.
Are there still Pawnee people today?
Yes. The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma has around 3,200 enrolled citizens, its own elected government and courts, and holds an annual homecoming powwow.
What were the four Pawnee bands?
The Chaui (Grand), Kitkehahki (Republican), Pitahawirata (Tappage) and Skidi (Wolf).
Did you know? A Pawnee earth lodge doubled as an observatory. From inside the dark lodge, a priest could watch particular stars cross the smoke hole in the roof and know exactly where the year had reached and when to plant.
Try it
Find Nebraska and Oklahoma on a map of the United States and measure the distance between them. That is the journey the Pawnee were forced to make in 1875.
Knowledge check
Did Pawnee people live in tipis all year round?
Show answer
No. They lived most of the year in permanent villages of large earth lodges and farmed corn, beans and squash. Tipis were used only during the two bison hunts each year, because they could be carried.
Do the Pawnee still exist today?
Show answer
Yes. The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma is a federally recognised sovereign nation with around 3,200 enrolled citizens, its own constitution, elected council and courts.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Pawnee
Do the Pawnee still exist?
Yes. The Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma is a sovereign nation today, with its own government, courts and around 3,200 enrolled citizens. Writing about Native peoples often slips into the past tense, as though these were nations that finished. They did not.
Where did the Pawnee live?
Along the Platte, Loup and Republican rivers, in what is now Nebraska and northern Kansas. They lived in that region for many centuries. By 1875 almost all Pawnee had been forced south to Indian Territory, now Pawnee County, Oklahoma.
What were the four Pawnee bands?
The Chaui, or Grand band; the Kitkehahki, or Republican band; the Pitahawirata, or Tappage band; and the Skidi, the Wolf band, which was the most distinct of the four. Each had its own villages and leaders, and they acted together when it mattered.
What kind of houses did the Pawnee live in?
Permanent earth lodges, some up to 12 metres across, built from a timber frame covered with soil and turf. They were not nomadic. Tipis were used only when the nation travelled for the bison hunts twice a year.
How did the Pawnee use the stars?
The Skidi band kept a star chart painted on hide and tracked stars through the smoke hole of an earth lodge, using what they saw to time the planting year. It is one of the most detailed astronomical traditions recorded on the Plains.
What did the Pawnee eat?
The Pawnee farmed corn, beans and squash in the river valleys of Nebraska and Kansas, and hunted bison on the plains twice a year, in summer and winter. That combination of farming and hunting shaped their whole calendar.
Sources
- Pawnee Nation of Oklahoma — the Nation’s own account of its history, government and citizens.
- Oklahoma Historical Society: Pawnee — the bands, removal and settlement in Oklahoma.
- Encyclopaedia Britannica: Pawnee — earth lodges, farming and the yearly hunt.
- The Field Museum, Chicago — holds the Skidi Pawnee star chart.
