In 1808 Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh founded a new village along the Tippecanoe River, north of present-day Lafayette, Indiana. The settlers called the Indian village Prophetstown, after the Shawnee spiritual leader. Prophetstown soon expanded into a large, multi-tribal community of the Prophet's followers that became a "powerful Indian city-state" for his spiritual movement. Willig (1997) argues that Prophetstown became the largest Native American community in the Great Lakes region, and also served as a major center of Indian culture, a temporary barrier to the encroaching settlers' westward movement, and a base to expel the whites and their culture from the territory. Located near the juncture of two rivers (the Wabash and Tippecanoe Rivers, Prophetstown gained significance as a central point in the political and military alliance that was forming around Tenskwatawa's brother Tecumseh, as well as the spiritual hub of the purification movement that the Prophet established to preserve tribal culture.