Ho-Chunk

Ho-Chunk

 also Ho-chungra or Winnebago

North American Indian people who live in the Midwestern U.S., notably Iowa, Wisconsin, and Nebraska. Their language belongs to the Siouan language family, and their name means “People of the Big Voice.” Before the 17th century, the Ho-Chunk lived in what is now eastern Wisconsin. By the early 19th century, as a result of their participation in the fur trade, they had expanded into southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. Kinship underlay traditional Ho-Chunk social organization, and was based upon 12 clans; clan membership was determined through the father's line. The Ho-Chunk lived in villages of dome-shaped wickiups, cultivated corn, squash, beans, and tobacco, and hunted bison. Their major ceremony was the medicine dance, in which both men and women participated. The Ho-Chunk were involved in the Black Hawk War of 1832, after which most of the tribe was removed to other Midwestern states. At the turn of the 21st century they numbered some 10,000 individuals.