Ho-Chunk

Ho-Chunk
Hoocągra

Members of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska's dance team at the Lied Activity Center in Bellevue, Nebraska, 2006
Total population
7,000 (1990)[1]
Regions with significant populations
United States (Wisconsin, Nebraska, Iowa, and Minnesota)
Languages
English, Hocąk
Religion
Traditional Hocak Way, Native American Church, Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Iowa, Otoe, and Missouria

The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hocąk, Hoocągra, or Winnebago (referred to as Hotúŋe in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. Today, Ho-Chunk people are enrolled in two federally recognized tribes, the Ho-Chunk Nation of Wisconsin and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.

The Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska have an Indian reservation in Nebraska. While related, the two tribes are distinct federally recognized sovereign nations and peoples, each with its own constitutionally formed government and completely separate governing and business interests. Since the late 20th century, both tribal councils have authorized the development of casinos.

The Ho-Chunk Nation is working on language restoration and has developed a Hoocąk-language iOS app. Since 1988, it has pursued a claim to the Badger Army Ammunition Plant as traditional territory; the area has since been declared surplus, but the Ho-Chunk have struggled with changes in policy at the Department of the Interior. The department supported the Ho-Chunk claim in 1998, but in 2011 refused to accept the property on their behalf.^{[citation needed]}

In 1994, to build on its revenues from casinos, the Winnebago created an economic development corporation; it has been successful and received awards as a model of entrepreneurial small business. With a number of subsidiaries, it employs more than 1,400 people. It has also contributed to housing construction on the reservation. Like more than 60% of federally recognized tribes, the Winnebago legalized alcohol sales on the reservation to secure revenues that previously went to the state in taxes.

The Ho-Chunk was the dominant tribe in its territory in the 16th century, with a population estimated at several thousand. Ethnologists have speculated that, like some other Siouan peoples, the Ho-Chunk may have originated along the East Coast and migrated west in pre-colonial times. Nicolas Perrot wrote that the names given to them by neighboring Algonquian peoples may have referred to their origin near an ocean.

The Ho-Chunk suffered severe population loss in the 17th century to a low of perhaps 500 individuals. This has been attributed to casualties of a lake storm, epidemics of infectious disease, and competition for resources from migrating Algonquian tribes. By the early 1800s, their population had increased to 2,900, but they suffered further losses in the smallpox epidemic of 1836. In 1990 they numbered 7,000; current estimates of total population of the two tribes are 12,000.