Iowa Indians, a tribe of the Siouan linguistic family. According to their legends they came to the plains area from the Great Lakes region. In the 17th century, they lived in what is now Iowa and adjoining parts of Minnesota and Missouri, and numbered about 1,200. They raised corn, hunted buffalo, and were involved in the fur trade. In 1836, the Iowa were assigned to a reservation located in Kansas and Nebraska. Some moved in 1883 to a reservation in Oklahoma.