Who first inhabited in Wisconsin?

Answer 1

The earliest Wisconsin inhabitants that we currently have evidence for are three Algonquin tribes: the Menominee, the Kickapoo and the Miami; and three Siouan tribes: the Winnebago, the Dakota and the Iowa. That said, one needs understand the difficulties encountered by researchers of Native American cultures in the midwest. (1) Maintaining a written history was not part of Native American cultures, so much of what we know dates only from the arrival of European traders and invaders. (2) Wisconsin tended to be inhabited by many small bands and loosely organized tribes not exceeding a few thousand individuals, unlike the great confederations of the eastern and western Native American nations. (3) Midwestern tribes were not stationary. There was a good deal of moving around as tribes migrated by choice or were driven by warfare. Wisconsin was the site of two notable movements: a great Siouan migration (including the Iowa, Missouri and Oto tribes) from the north to the southwest, and a westward movement of Algonquin tribes or bands driven from the east by intertribal warfare. Following is some detail regarding the opening paragraph above. Only the Winnebago and Menominee remain in Wisconsin from prehistoric days. The Winnebago (Hotcangara or Ho-chunk) are an ancient remnant of the Siouan migration. The Menominee(Mamaceqtaw) are an Algonquin people whose tradition states that they were driven by intertribal warfare to Wisconsin from Michigan over 10,000 years ago. Both tribes are essentially indigenous. The Kickapoo and the Miami (Miamiak) eventually migrated southeast. The Dakota moved westward, and the Iowa moved southwest to become the Iowa, Missouri and Oto tribes. Many of today's Wisconsin Native Americans are descendants of a later westward migration of Algonquin tribes driven by intertribal warfare and European settlement: The Chippewa (Ojibwe), the Stockbridge-Munsee (Mohican and Delaware tribes), the Oneida (Oneyoteaka, an Iriquois tribe), and the Potawatomi (Neshnabek, related to the Ojibwe and Ottawa). At the time of the arrival of Europeans, Wisconsin was also home to the Fox (Meshkwa kihig') and the Sauk (Osa'kiwug), neither of which have a significant Wisconsin presence today. Also the Illinois (Iliniwek) tribe moved in and out of the region.