Adding accurate Indigenous place names to articles is one way to help undo centuries of erasure. If any Wikipedia editors want to help and patiently educate fellow editors, get in touch and we’ll connect you with reliable Indigenous sources.

Editors who routinely revert additions of Indigenous place names may not be acting maliciously. They’re often unknowingly reinforcing one of the oldest misinformation campaigns, in which place names were weaponized to claim Indigenous land.

Wikipedia as a whole is incredibly accurate, but inaccuracies persist when it comes to Indigenous topics.

That's correct. That name was offered to us by the Quapaw Tribal Museum for our map of Turtle Island. It's a loan translation of the English name.

are living and dynamic, none of these names are any less “authentic” than those passed down through continuous oral tradition. Embedded in all these names are ancestral words and worldviews. Above all, the map serves to illustrate that Indigenous peoples are still here. (4/4)

precolonial Bear Creek Mound which was the main Ishak landmark in the area until it was bulldozed in the 1960s. This name was one of many we would later publish in the Turtle Island map which were created in this way through careful consideration and research. Because Indigenous languages (3/4)

language revitalization and were working on publishing their 1st modern dictionary with the help of @davidvkaufman.bsky.social. So the Council decided to reconstruct a name based on their cultural relationship with the place, agreeing on Šakotayišol Nunuš “Bear Creek Town” to commemorate the (2/4)

Here it is in the wild in my office surrounded by two Justseeds prints!

We're here now!