Winnebago - Orientation

Identification. Located on Green Bay at the time of Contact, the Winnebago later expanded across southwestern Wisconsin and northwestern Illinois. They are now two separately organized groups: one on tribal and individual trust lands scattered over a dozen counties in central Wisconsin and the other on a reservation in Nebraska. Linguistically, they are closely related to the Chiwere Siouan-speaking Iowa, Missouri, and Oto.

Location. This historic territory is characterized by numerous lakes and marshes, generally well drained, with part deciduous and part coniferous forests and patches of prairie. It lies within the line of 120 consecutive frost-free days necessary for maize cultivation.

Demography. Estimates place the aboriginal population at thirty-five hundred to four thousand. Large population decreases occurred after contact, but the group's numbers have now risen to more than thirty-five hundred people each in the Nebraska and Wisconsin enclaves, with perhaps another two thousand in urban areas, primarily in the northern Midwest.