Get Pokagon Band Potawatomi

The Potawatomi are traditionally an Algonquian-speaking Eastern Woodlands tribe. They have 29,155 enrolled tribal members, of whom 10,312 live in the state of Oklahoma.

In the late 1860s many of the Kansas band moved to Indian Territory (now Oklahoma), where they were known as the Citizen Potawatomi. Early 21st-century population estimates indicated approximately 26,000 individuals of Potawatomi descent.

In the United States and Canada, there is a total of nine bands of federally recognized Bodéwadmi {Potawatomi} People. Each individual Tribe has their own unique language, traditions and beliefs that make up their culture. This map shows the location of the nine federally recognized Potawatomi Tribes.

Under Indian Removal, they eventually ceded many of their lands, and most of the Potawatomi relocated to Nebraska, Kansas, and Indian Territory. Some bands survived in the Great Lakes region and today are federally recognized as tribes.

The Pokagon Band of Potawatomi is a federally recognized tribe with approximately 5,000 members.

Today, the three most common Pokagon Potawatomi clans are thunder, bear and turtle. Since community breakdown following European contact and the removal of Indians westward, the clan system—like other aspects of native culture—has been nearly lost.