The Place of the Whirlpool: the Wea

The Wea, or as they called themselves, the Waayaahtanwa, or people from the place of the whirlpool, were an Algonquian-speaking people closely linked to both the Miami and the Piankeshaw, whom we've covered in previous posts.  They spoke a dialect of Miami shared in common with the Miami tribe.  Origin stories for both the Piankeshaw and Wea also indicate a common origin.  The main village of the Wea was Ouiatenon, in present-day Lafayette, Indiana.  Concentrations of Wea were also present in Terre Haute, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois.  The Wea were an important part of the Northwestern Confederacy of tribes opposing American incursion into the Ohio Territory.  As such, they were present at several treaty parleys and signatories to treaties including the Treaty of Greenville (1795), the first Treaty of Fort Wayne (1803), the second Treaty of Fort Wayne in 1809, and Treaty of Fort Harrison, to name a few.

Though once a powerful tribe to be reckoned with, war, disease and displacement took their toll on the Wea.  Most of the Wea went to Kansas in 1854 with the Kaskaskia, Peoria and Piankeshaw.  They became the Confederated Peoria Tribe of Kansas and later the Peoria Tribe of Oklahoma after relocating there.  Other Wea remained in Indiana, where they were known locally as Wabash Indians.  Wea people survive today in Indiana, Oklahoma and elsewhere throughout the United States.