The Kiowa’ Indian Tribe

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The Kiowa’s people were a great warrior culture society that roamed the plains before the arrival of the Europeans. The Kiowa’ Indian tribe formed an alliance with neighboring tribes and dominated the western plains for decades. In their native tongue they called themselves, ” Ka’gwa” which meant the “Principle People”. Before the intervention of European cultures they were known as the, ”People with large tipi flaps”. The Kiowa expanded their territories through out the southern plains, which is known as modern day Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. The mid-1900 century the Kiowa Indian tribe had several treaties with the United States, but it was the Medicine lodge treaty with the southern plains tribes that relocated the Kiowa’s into reservation located in present day Oklahoma. The Kiowa’s were known amongst other tribe as the large tipi flap people and their tipi art displayed battle emblems of Kiowa war society members. It was with horses came abundance of buffalo hide and larger tipis for the nomadic tribe, and with more hide came excellent craftsmanship. The first documented Spaniard to arrive into the southern plains was Don Juan de Onate, He gives his description of what he saw according to Peter Nabokov and Robert Easton book titled, Native American Architecture, which states the following,” fifty tents of tanned hides, very bright red and white in color and bell-shaped, with flaps and opening and built as skillfully as any house in Italy.” (Nabokov and Easton 1989) During Don Juan de Onate expedition to Eastern New Mexico he encountered tipis and described how Native tribes utilized dogs to transport their belongings. With the arrival of Spaniards in the mid-fifteenth century also came horses, which revol...

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...s have vanished along with the Chiefs of old. Little Bluffs battle tipi influence other artist in Fort Marion as battle scene with Calvary begun to appear in more ledger art. In conclusion most Kiowa tipis before the Medicine lodge treaties showed a line of traditional tipi passed down from pervious generations that showed little battle imagery but rather had a plain style or horizontal strips. These simplistic tipis with solid colors and few contrast represented more of a seasoned Kiowa tipi. After the Medicine lodge treaties is the art work depicted by most Kiowa artist became more graphical well into the present day. Little Bluffs stripped tipi is an example of how European impact has changes the style of tipi designs after the treaties. The tipi still exist today in canvas form among the Kiowa Nation honoring warriors return from war just as centuries before.

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