The New International Encyclopædia/Peoria (tribe)

PEO′RIA. One of the five principal tribes of the Illinois Confederacy. Their home territory was in central Illinois, about the lake of the same name. They shared in the swift decline of the Illinois tribes, largely brought upon themselves by the murder of Pontiac, and were soon reduced to a mere remnant. In 1832 they and the Kaskaskia removed to Kansas, whence in 1854 they again removed to the reservation in the northeastern corner of Indian Territory, where they still reside, confederated with the remnant of the Kaskaskia, Wea, and Piankishaw, the entire body numbering only 180, all probably of mixed blood. See Illinois; Kaskaskia.