Most Miami lived at Kekionga, today's Fort Wayne, during the 1700's. There and in the surrounding area, they were able to develop great power and influence by placing their villages close together near portages. Miami women farmed, growing beans, squash and large fields of corn along the rivers. Families gathered edible and medicinal plants, while hunting parties brought in game. Most families lived in wikiami, also known as "wikiup" or "wigwam", which were domed, round structures normally formed with a frame of arched poles and covered with a roofing material, such as tree bark in the winter and cattail or reed mats in the summer months. In addition, some families began to live in log cabins while keeping cattle and pigs.

During this time, Pacanne was the peace chief of the Miami at Kekionga while his nephew, his sister, Tacumwa’s son, Jean Baptiste Richardville, was in charge during his absences.

By 1790, Miami political, commercial and military influence on surrounding tribes was at its height. The Miami were skilled traders in furs and a special white corn only they grew. Little Turtle, a master military leader, crushed two American armies in 1790 and 1791, becoming the most famous war chief of the Miami.

Things would change for the Miami three years later when United States General Anthony Wayne and his troops defeated the Miami tribe in the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, the Battle of Fallen Timers, in 1794. The Northwest Indian War, a conflict over control of the Northwest Territory fought between the United States and thirteen Native American tribes, was ended when General Wayne negotiated the Treaty of Greenville in 1795. The treaty between the US and the thirteen tribes redefined the boundary between indigenous peoples' lands and territory for European-American community settlement. The treaty also promised peace for the tribes in return for American pro

After 1803, President Thomas Jefferson encouraged Indiana governor, William Henry Harrison, to push tribes into debt so they would have to sell their land. At the same time, Miami chiefs learned to bargain high prices for the land they were able to sell. By the 1830’s, commercial development, especially canal construction, made Miami land along the Wabash River valuable. The Miami spent their money on European clothing and goods brought to Indian trading posts from New York and combined the styles with unique ribbon work developed by Miami women to decorate traditional leggings, shawls, moccasins and blankets.

In 1835, a white woman, Frances Slocum, was discovered living among the Miami. Delaware Indians had captured her as a five-year-old in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She married a Miami chief, had a family and lived as a Miami Indian named Maconaquah, "Little Bear Woman". Asked to return to Pennsylvania, she refused, saying, "Why should I go and be like a fish out of water?" Frances Slocum's clothing and cabin reflected the mixture of European and Miami folk life common at the time.

Between 1820 and 1840, military defeat, a tidal wave of pioneers and wealth from land sale brought insecurity, violence, alcoholism and a rapid loss of population to the Miami tribe. By the 1840's, a series of treaties had resulted in the loss of nearly all Indian land in Indiana, driving the Miami close to extinction.

In October of 1846 most of the Miami were forcibly removed from Indiana. Three hundred and twenty seven people were packed onto boats taking them to Kansas. Later, many were moved on to Oklahoma and became the Miami Tribe of Oklahoma. The families of Jean Baptiste Richardville, Francis Godfroy and Meshingomesia were allowed to stay behind. As a white woman, Frances Slocum was also allowed to stay. This tiny remnant of the original tribe, less than 150 people, had to adapt to American life behind the frontier on small fragments of the land that had once provided their food and shelter.

Behind the frontier, the tiny Miami community in northern Indiana began to rebuild its life. In 1854, tribal leaders negotiated a new treaty to protect Miami rights. Remnants of treaty land were a refuge where tribespeople slowly came to terms with non-Indian society. Chiefs encouraged Miami men to learn farming and their children to go to school to learn American ways. At the same time, Gabriel Godfroy and other tribal elders taught tribal history through stories and by showing precious heirlooms of their past.

By the beginning of the 20th century, the Miami had lost almost all of their remaining land. In 1897, a ruling by the federal government took away their treaty rights as a tribe. When Gabriel Godfroy died in 1910, the last rural Miami community (26 families) began to break up. By the 1920s most Miami people were town dwellers.

Determined to reinforce their identity as American Indians, the Miami rallied behind their tribal government. Suffering great poverty, they sold treaty papers, peace medals and priceless heirloom clothing to pay legal expenses in an attempt to regain tribal rights.

The Miami still struggle with the loss of lands and rights. In the 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers built the Mississinewa Reservoir, flooding some of the few traditional landmarks and graveyards remaining to the Miami. Here relatives had to stand witness as their ancestors were dug up and their sacred ground desecrated.

The Miami today are clustered in towns along the rivers of northern Indiana, in South Bend and around Miami, Oklahoma. There are about 6,000 members of the Miami Nation of Indians of Indiana. Their tribal headquarters are in Peru, Indiana. Today the Miami are confident of their identity. They want to let other people know they exist as a tribe.

In 1795, after the Battle of Fallen Timbers, General Anthony Wayne gave the Miami a flag to seal the Greenville Treaty. The Miami called it Anakapia, "our protector." The flag symbolizes recognition of their government by the United States.

1997 was the 100th anniversary of the year in which the United States took away tribal status from the Miami people of Indiana.

Miami homes often have photos, objects or craft items to connect the present with the Indian past. These conversation pieces may be in an “Indian corner,” scattered about or kept where they can be brought out. In this way family or visitors can share something of what is special about being a Miami Indian.

Many Miami heirlooms have disappeared over the years, lost in house fires, sold, stolen or strayed. The modest objects in the Indian corner of the Miami Nation were shown in the 1970s to demonstrate Miami pride and identity. By that time, valuable old Miami clothing, treaties, peace medals and other items were in museum collections.