This tour guides users to 10 locations across Kansas City, Kansas. Proceed through the tour by visiting the red marker. Tap on the marker to view turn-by-turn directions.
From the earliest settlements, Anglo-Americans pushed indigenous Nations west as they sought to tame the soil and more closely align it with their ideals.
Over time, Wyandotte County, Kansas became home to three different Nations: the Shawnee, the Delaware (or Lenape), and the Wyandot (or Wendat). Each struggled and each thrived in the region.
Kaw Point, which sits at the mouth of the Kansas River, was established as a trading center in the early 18th century as French surveyors arrived in the area. It derived its name from the Kanza (or Kaw), who came to the region in pursuit of game and furs to trade. In 1804, Lewis and Clark fortified a position there and camped for three days.
In the 1820s, the United States government impelled tribes east of the Mississippi River even further west and away from white settlement — a process accelerated by the passage of the Indian Removal Act in 1830. "Liberty" became a relative term for the tribes as they were assigned new homelands.
The Shawnee were pushed south of the Kansas River, while the Delaware retained Wyandotte County between the Kansas and Missouri Rivers. The Wyandot, the last Nation to leave Ohio, ultimately purchased land from the Delaware after an earlier attempt to buy land from the Shawnee was blocked.
This tour is based on research and interpretation by John Nichols under a grant from Visit Kansas City, KS.