Illiniwek

The Illiniwek, also called the Illinois Confederation, were a group of Algonquian-speaking Native American tribes who inhabited the Mississippi River valley in present-day Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri before European contact. They formed a loose alliance of roughly a dozen bands whose members spoke related dialects and shared cultural practices centered on agriculture, hunting, and river trade. The name survives today primarily through its association with the University of Illinois, whose former mascot drew directly from this tribal identity.