Editing Wea (section)

== History ==
[[File:Granville, Indiana Cemetery Marker.png|thumb|300px|"The Wea Plains," a historical marker near the [[ghost town]] of [[Granville, Indiana|Granville]] in [[Tippecanoe County, Indiana]]]]
The Wea lived north of the [[Ohio River]] in parts of western Indiana and southeastern Illinois.<ref name=c681/> The first written mention of the tribe is from 1673.<ref name=c689>Callendar, "Miami," 689</ref> French explorers wrote about them in the 17th and early 18th centuries. Another Miami sub-tribe, the Pepikokia were a separate tribe until 1742 but then later became part of the Wea tribe.<ref name=c681>Callender, "Miami," 681</ref> In the 18th century, the Wea, Miami, and Piankashaw remained distinct tribes.<ref>Callendar, "Miami," 682</ref> The Wea population of 1765 is estimated to have been around 1,200.<ref>Callendar, "Miami," 688</ref>

In the early 18th century, Wea people settled in villages along the [[Wabash River]] between what would become [[Terre Haute, Indiana|Terre Haute]] and [[Logansport, Indiana]].<ref name=c686>Callendar, "Miami," 686</ref> They established a large settlement called [[Ouiatenon]], near what is now [[Lafayette, Indiana|Lafayette]], and the French colonists established [[Fort Ouiatenon]], which facilitated trade with the Wea and [[Kickapoo people|Kickapoo]].<ref name=c686/>

In 1747, British colonists began trading with a band of Miami living on the [[Great Miami River]] in Ohio. Weas began trading with them as well, until the French destroyed their trading post. By 1763, the Wea joined Odawa war chief [[Pontiac (Ottawa leader)|Pontiac]] in [[Pontiac's War]] against the British.<ref>Callendar, "Miami," 686–87.</ref> The Wea first were neutral during the [[American Revolution]] but later joined the Miami in fighting with the British. The Wea were forced to move to Missouri and Arkansas in 1820.<ref name=peoria/> They were later forced into Kansas and finally [[Indian Territory]],<ref name=c687>Callendar, "Miami," 687</ref> which became Oklahoma.

With increased Euro-American settlement and the United States's policy of [[Indian removal]], the US federal government made many treaties with these tribes.

In 1854, the Wea signed a treaty that merged them politically with other remnant tribes of the [[Illinois Confederacy]] to become the [[Confederated Peoria Tribe]]. The Miami people also joined the Confederated Peoria Tribe in 1873.<ref name=c681/>