Centuries ago, the Potawatomi had an estimated population of 10,000 and controlled approximately 30 million acres of land in the Great Lakes area.

The people who have become the Citizen Potawatomi Nation were among the Algonquin Indians who migrated west from the Atlantic seaboard. Originally one tribe with the Ojibway and Ottawa, the Potawatomis separated from them on the eastern shore of Lake Huron.

The Potawatomis migrated to the eastern Lake Michigan area. War with the Iroquois forced them to move around to the western shore prior to European observation.

They were first observed by Europeans in 1640 on islands around Green Bay, Wisconsin. They
spread south into territories of Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana, after the Iroquois were forced back into the eastern colonies in the French and Indian War.

In an 1833 treaty, signed in Chicago, the united Potawatomis, Ottawas, and Chippewas ceded
about five million acres to the United States. The "Potawatomis of the Prairie" received a tract of
land between the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers. In 1836, this land became a part of Missouri.

Those Potawatomis who had removed to this reservation were again moved. This time, it was to
land in what is now southwest Iowa. The village was on the river near the present site of Council Bluffs.

An 1837 treaty forced the Prairie Potawatomis and the remaining Indiana and Illinois Potawatomis
--the "Potawatomis of the Woods" or "Mission Potawatomis"-- into Kansas.

Approximately 40 people of the "Mission Potawatomi", most of them children, perished in the 1838
move from Indiana and Iowa into Kansas. About 100 died from subsequent illnesses brought on by the forced march. This historic event is known as the Potawatomi Trail of Death.

The Potawatomis of the Woods and the Mission Band of Potawatomis settled there, made many
improvements, and remained for nine years. The two bands disposed of their lands on the Osage
river and in Iowa for the sum of $850,000. In 1847, they moved to their new reservation in Kansas.

In 1850, a band of Michigan Potawatomis, numbering about 650, joined the tribe at St. Mary's
Kansas. Although living apart because of religious and cultural differences, the two bands occupied the reservation in common until November 15, 1861.

At that time, a new treaty was signed. It provided for dividing Potawatomi lands into individual
allotments. A portion of the reserve was assigned to tribal members who preferred to hold their
land in common, formally splitting the tribe into two bands. The Mission Band generally was allotted land in severalty. The Prairie Band of Potawatomis chose to continue communal land ownership. In 1867, the Mission Band purchased land in Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma). The Mission Band Potawatomis used money from selling their Kansas land to the Santa Fe Railroad to finance the purchase.

After adopting U.S. citizenship to enforce their land purchase rights, the Mission Band
Potawatomis became known as the Citizen Band. The name Citizen Potawatomi Nation was adopted in 1996.