{Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore originally posted by US Interior} Neekawikam means dunes or sandy water in Myaamia, the Miami language. Indiana Dunes has been the home of many Indigenous people, most recently the Miami and Potawatomi who lived in the area at least by the Beaver Wars in the late 1600’s. The website for Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore begins its history of the park in the 20th century, decades after the Miami and Potawatomi were removed to reservations in Oklahoma (kiiloona Myaamiaki - Miami Tribe of Oklahoma, Citizen Potawatomi Nation) and at various midwestern reservation for the Potawatomi.
Telling history this way hides the rich cultures, colonial conflicts, and violent removals that have taken place in these spaces and replaces them with purely environmental histories., challenging Indigenous claims to space. Don’t forget, outdoor communities, that all environmental spaces are also cultural spaces that have been shaped by Indigenous people.