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Key Words: Native American cartography, Plains Indian pictography, Kiowa Indians, Chaddle-kaungy-ky (Black Goose), Dawes Act
Plains Indian cultures have left numerous forms of Native drawings in the form of painted and drawn clothing, robes, tipis and tipi liners, shields and shield covers, calendars, ledger books, religious and historical drawings, and maps. Native drawings of geographic features are distinguished from other forms of drawings by their focus on the concept of territory rather than on occasional individual features such as a hill or river. Native maps predate European contact and are recorded for every major region of North America.1 Although most extant Native maps are from the Plains and Arctic regions and date to the nineteenth century, others range from 1540 to 1869.2 De Vorsey and Harley demonstrate that nearly every major North American explorer through the late nineteenth century used geographic information and/or maps obtained from Native inhabitants of their respective areas.3
American Indians drew maps for a variety of purposes: to illustrate and enhance oral accounts of noteworthy events; for astronomy and religion (Pawnee); to record travel routes and related information; as messages to report successful hunting (Passamaquoddy); to leave as travel directions for others (Upper Mississippi Valley, Great Lakes); to serve as mnemonic devices in recounting migration routes and tribal and religious histories (Southern Ojibway); as evidence in land disputes with neighboring tribes (Iowa); and to instruct outgoing war parties heading into new or distant areas (Comanche).4 Indian-made maps also often reflect the current political state between Indian nations and between Indian and non-Indian groups.5 Early white trappers, traders, explorers, and military personnel regularly sought information on interior lands, travel routes, and inhabitants, and commonly noted the accuracy of Native-drawn maps. As geographic works produced by Natives familiar with these areas, such maps held obvious value in terms of competition in the fur trade.6
Previous publications on Indian maps have often focused on Plains Indians.7 Ewers discusses the value of using Native drawings and maps in studying various aspects of Plains cultures.8 While several Northern Plains maps exist, there are few Southern Plains examples, especially for the Kiowa, Comanche, and Plains Apache.9
This article focuses on efforts to enforce allotment on the Kiowa-Comanche-Apache (KCA) Reservation through the 1887 General Allotment or...