The Heart of the Plains: Native American Perspectives. For countless generations, this land was the ancestral home of various Native American tribes, each with their own deep-rooted connection to the landscape. Among these were the Pawnee, Omaha, Otoe, and Sioux, whose presence shaped the region’s cultural and ecological tapestry. The very name “Nebraska” itself echoes these indigenous roots, believed to derive from the Oto Indian word “Ñí Brásge,” which translates to “flat water,” a poetic reference to the meandering Platte River that courses through the state’s heartland.