Chester Hubbard (Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation) created this interactive map for the Kansas Land Treaties Project. Hubbard used data from the “Morrill Act of 1862 Indigenous Land Parcels Database,” a open-access resource: https://github.com/HCN-Digital-Projects/landgrabu-data.
Learn more about the Morrill Act and how it transferred Indigenous nations’ lands to U.S. colleges and universities at Land Grab University: https://www.landgrabu.org/
Hubbard describes this map as follows: “The representation progressively shows how much land was lost between 1825 and 1847 due to treaty cessions. It also shows the land parcels that were later given to Kansas State University through the Morrill Act of 1862. The data that I used to create this representation were shapefiles and tables acquired from the Morrill Act of 1862 Indigenous Land Parcels Database which documents the amount of land that was taken from Indigenous nations and given to universities like Kansas State University, as well as the USDA Forest Service. The software that I used to make the map from that data was ArcGIS Pro. My design choices for the map were to keep the map basic and easy to read for the user without overwhelming them. This map is important to show the magnitude of the land loss experienced by the Kanza.”
This map shows Kanza land acquired by the U.S. via treaties that Congress redistributed to colleges and universities through the Morrill Act of 1862, including Kansas State University. These higher education institutions then sold these land parcels and used the proceeds to fund their institutions.
How to use this map:
Click on the map or the button below to load the interactive map.
Begin by using the plus and minus buttons to zoom in and out.
Zoom to an individual parcel (often a square) of land and then click on that square.
A pop up screen will load with additional information.
Note the University the land was allocated to.
Note the treaty from which the U.S. acquired the land from the Kanza. The original treaty texts as well as annotations (to help understand them) are provided on this website (https://kansastreaties.com/treaties-history).
Also on the pop up screen, click on the “More Info” links to access additional resources, original historical documents (including actions of Congress and Bureau of Land Management records), etc.
Click for Interactive Map
