A tribe of American Indians that formed part of the Illinois nation (see Illinois). In the late 1600s, the Peoria tribe occupied the northwestern portion of Illinois territory along tributaries of the Mississippi River in southeastern Iowa and northeastern Missouri. French explorers Jacques Marquette and Louis Jolliet visited a large Peoria village near the mouth of the Des Moines River on their famous voyage of exploration in 1673. The Peoria later moved east to the Illinois River valley and, in 1691, established a village near the present city of Peoria, Illinois. The tribe abandoned the Illinois Valley by the 1760s, when they moved south to the Mississippi River in southwestern Illinois and eastern Missouri. The Peoria tribe ceded its lands east of the Mississippi River in a treaty signed with the U.S. government in 1818. Today, their descendants are represented by the Peoria Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma.

a city in central Illinois on the Illinois River

an Illinois city on the Illinois River; Peoria is located north of Springfield and northwest of Bloomington.