The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations

band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...

in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the

Sioux The Sioux or Oceti Sakowin (; Dakota language, Dakota: Help:IPA, /otʃʰeːtʰi ʃakoːwĩ/) are groups of Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada, First Nations peoples in North America. The ...

people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota. The four bands of Eastern Dakota are the Bdewákaŋthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute, and Sisíthuŋwaŋ and are sometimes referred to as the Santee (''Isáŋyathi'' or ''Isáŋ-athi''; "knife" + "encampment", "dwells at the place of knife flint"), who reside in the eastern

Dakotas The Dakotas is a collective term for the U.S. states of North Dakota and South Dakota. It has been used historically to describe the Dakota Territory, and is still used for the collective heritage, culture, geography, fauna, sociology, econom ...

, central Minnesota and northern Iowa. They have federally recognized tribes established in several places. The Western Dakota are the Yankton, and the Yanktonai (''Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ'' and ''Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna''; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), who reside in the Upper Missouri River area. The Yankton-Yanktonai are collectively also referred to by the

endonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

''Wičhíyena'' ("Those Who Speak Like Men"). They also have distinct federally recognized tribes. In the past the Western Dakota have been erroneously classified as Nakota, a branch of the Sioux who moved further west. The latter are now located in Montana and across the border in Canada, where they are known as

Stoney Stoney may refer to: Places * Stoney, Kansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Stoney Creek (disambiguation) * Stoney Pond, a man-made lake located by Bucks Corners, New York * Stoney (lunar crater) * Stoney (Martian crater) A ...

Name

The word ''Dakota'' means "ally" in the Dakota language, and their autonyms include ''Ikčé Wičhášta'' ("Indian people") and ''Dakhóta Oyáte'' ("Dakota people").Barry M. Pritzker, ''A Native American Encyclopedia: History, Culture, and Peoples.'' Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000; pg. 316

Ethnic groups

The Eastern and Western Dakota are two of the three groupings belonging to the

nation (also called Dakota in a broad sense), the third being the Lakota (Thítȟuŋwaŋ or Teton). The three groupings speak dialects that are still relatively

mutually intelligible In linguistics, mutual intelligibility is a relationship between languages or dialects in which speakers of different but related varieties can readily understand each other without prior familiarity or special effort. It is sometimes used as an ...

. This is referred to as a common language, Dakota-Lakota, or

. The Dakota include the following bands: *Santee division (Eastern Dakota) (''Isáŋyathi'', meaning "knife camp") ** Mdewakanton (''Bdewékhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' "Spirit Lake Village" or "people of the mystic lake") **:notable persons: Taoyateduta **Sisseton (''Sisíthuŋwaŋ'', translating to "swamp/lake/fish scale village") **Wahpekute (''Waȟpékhute'', "Leaf Archers") **:notable persons:

Inkpaduta Inkpaduta ( Dakota: Iŋkpáduta, variously translated as "Red End," "Red Cap," or "Scarlet Point") (about 17971881) was a war chief of the Wahpekute band of the Dakota (Eastern or Santee Dakota) during the 1857 Spirit Lake Massacre and later W ...

**Wahpeton (''Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ'', "Leaf Village") *Yankton-Yanktonai division (Western Dakota) (''Wičhíyena'') **Yankton (''Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ'', "End Village") **Yanktonai (''Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna'', "Little End Village") ***Upper Yanktonai ***Húŋkpathina or Lower Yanktonai

Language

The Dakota language is a

Mississippi Valley Siouan language Mississippi () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States, bordered to the north by Tennessee; to the east by Alabama; to the south by the Gulf of Mexico; to the southwest by Louisiana; and to the northwest by Arkansas. Mississ ...

, belonging to the greater Siouan-Catawban language family. It is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language, and both are also more distantly related to the

and Assiniboine languages. Dakota is written in the Latin script and has a dictionary and grammar. # Eastern Dakota (also known as Santee-Sisseton or Dakhóta) #* Santee (Isáŋyáthi: Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute) #* Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ) # Western Dakota (or Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta) #* Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ) #* Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna) #** Upper Yanktonai (Wičhíyena)

History

Before the 17th century, the Santee Dakota (; "Knife" also known as the Eastern Dakota) lived around Lake Superior with territories in present-day northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. They gathered wild rice, hunted woodland animals and used canoes to fish. Wars with the Ojibwe throughout the 1700s pushed the Dakota into southern Minnesota, where the Western Dakota (Yankton, Yanktonai) and Teton (Lakota) were residing. In the 1800s, the Dakota signed treaties with the United States, ceding much of their land in Minnesota. Failure of the United States to make treaty payments on time, as well as low food supplies, led to the Dakota War of 1862, which resulted in the Dakota being exiled from Minnesota to numerous reservations in Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Canada. After 1870, the Dakota people began to return to Minnesota, creating the present-day reservations in the state. The Yankton and Yanktonai Dakota ( and ; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), collectively also referred to by the

, resided in the

Minnesota River The Minnesota River ( dak, Mnísota Wakpá) is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately 332 miles (534 km) long, in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It drains a watershed of in Minnesota and about in South Dakota and Iowa. It ris ...

area before ceding their land and moving to South Dakota in 1858. Despite ceding their lands, their treaty with the U.S. government allowed them to maintain their traditional role in the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ as the caretakers of the Pipestone Quarry, which is the cultural center of the Sioux people. They are considered to be the Western Dakota (also called middle Sioux), and have in the past been erroneously classified as Nakota.for a report on the long-established blunder of misnaming as "Nakota", the Yankton and the Yanktonai, see the article Nakota The actual Nakota are the Assiniboine and

of Western Canada and Montana.

Santee (Isáŋyathi or Eastern Dakota)

Migrations of Ojibwe people from the east in the 17th and 18th centuries, who were armed with muskets supplied by the French and British, pushed the Dakota further into Minnesota and west and southward. The US gave the name " Dakota Territory" to the northern expanse west of the Mississippi River and up to its headwaters. After the Dakota War of 1862, the federal government expelled the Santee (who included the Mdewakanton) from Minnesota. Many were sent to Crow Creek Indian Reservation east of the Missouri River in what is now South Dakota. In 1864 some from the Crow Creek Reservation were sent to St. Louis and then traveled by boat up the Missouri River, ultimately to the Santee Sioux Reservation. In the 21st century, the majority of the Santee live on reservations and reserves, and many in small and larger cities in Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Canada. They went to cities for more work opportunities and improved living conditions.

Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ-Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna (Yankton-Yanktonai or Western Dakota)

The Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ-Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna, also known by the anglicized spelling Yankton (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ: "End village") and Yanktonai (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna: "Little end village") divisions consist of two bands or two of the seven council fires. According to ''Nasunatanka'' and ''Matononpa'' in 1880, the Yanktonai are divided into two sub-groups known as the Upper Yanktonai and the Lower Yanktonai (Húŋkpathina). They were involved in quarrying pipestone. The Yankton-Yanktonai moved into northern Minnesota. In the 18th century, they were recorded as living in the Mankato (''Maka To'' – Earth Blue/Blue Earth) region of southwestern Minnesota along the Blue Earth River. Most of the Yankton live on the Yankton Indian Reservation in southeastern South Dakota. Some Yankton live on the Lower Brule Indian Reservation and Crow Creek Reservation, which is also occupied by the Lower Yanktonai. The Upper Yanktonai live in the northern part of

Standing Rock Reservation The Standing Rock Reservation ( lkt, Íŋyaŋ Woslál Háŋ) lies across the border between North and South Dakota in the United States, and is inhabited by ethnic "Hunkpapa and Sihasapa bands of Lakota Oyate and the Ihunktuwona and Pabaksa ...

, and on the

Spirit Lake Reservation The Spirit Lake Tribe (in Santee Dakota: ''Mniwakaƞ Oyate'', also spelt as ''Mni Wakan Oyate'', formerly known as Devils Lake Sioux Tribe) is a federally recognized tribe based on the Spirit Lake Dakota Reservation located in east-central Nor ...

, in areas within central North Dakota. Others live in the eastern half of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana. In addition, they reside at several Canadian reserves, including Birdtail, Oak Lake, and Whitecap (formerly Moose Woods).

Modern geographic divisions

The Dakota maintain many separate tribal governments scattered across several reservations and communities in North America: in the Dakotas, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Montana in the United States; and in Manitoba, southern Saskatchewan in Canada. The earliest known European record of the Dakota identified them in Minnesota, Iowa, and Wisconsin. After the introduction of the horse in the early 18th century, the Sioux dominated larger areas of land—from present day Central Canada to the Platte River, from Minnesota to the Yellowstone River, including the

Powder River Powder River may refer to: Places * Powder River (Wyoming and Montana), in Wyoming and Montana in the United States * Powder River Country, the area around the above river * Powder River (Oregon), in Oregon in the United States * Powder River Ba ...

country.

Modern reservations, reserves, and communities of the Sioux

(* ''Reserves shared with other First Nations'')

Notable Dakota people

Historical

* Hazaiyankawin (

Azayamankawin Azayamankawin (), also known as Hazaiyankawin, Betsey St. Clair, Old Bets, or Old Betz, was one of the most photographed Native American women of the 19th century. She was a Mdewakanton Dakota woman well known in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where she o ...

), Mdewakanton Dakota woman who ran canoe ferry service in Saint Paul, Minnesota *Inkpaduta ( Scarlet Point/Red End), Wahpekute Dakota war chief * Ištáȟba ( Sleepy Eye), Sisseton Dakota chief * Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa ( Cloud Man), Mdewakanton Dakota chief * Ohíyes'a ( Charles Eastman), Dakota author, physician and reformer who helped found the Boy Scouts of America * Snana ( Maggie Brass), Mdewakanton woman who saved Mary Schwandt during the U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 *Tamaha ( One Eye/Standing Moose), Mdewekanton Dakota scout for the U.S. during the War of 1812 * Thaóyate Dúta ( Little Crow III/His Red Nation), Mdewakanton Dakota chief of Kaposia band and military leader during U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 * Ti'wakan ( Gabriel Renville), Sisseton Wahpeton chief from 1866 to 1892 *Wapahaśa ( Wabasha II), head chief of Mdewakanton Dakota and Kiyuksa band in early 1800s *Wapahaśa ( Wabasha III), head chief of the Santee Sioux *Wánataŋ ( Wanata), Yanktonai Dakota chief * Wánataŋ ( Wanata#Chief Wanataan II), Sisseton Dakota chief, son of the former * Waŋbdí Okíčhize ( War Eagle), Yankton Dakota chief of Santee origin * Waŋbdí Tháŋka ( Big Eagle), Mdewakanton Dakota sub-chief * Zitkala-Ša ( Gertrude Simmons Bonnin, 1876–1938), Yankton author, educator, musician and political activist

Contemporary

* Ella Cara Deloria (1889 – 1971), author, ethnographer, linguist *

Vine Deloria Jr. Vine Victor Deloria Jr. (March 26, 1933 – November 13, 2005, Standing Rock Sioux) was an author, theologian, historian, and activist for Native American rights. He was widely known for his book '' Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto ...

(1933–2005), Standing Rock author, activist, historian and theologian * Floyd Red Crow Westerman/''Kanghi Duta'' (1936–2007), Sisseton Wahpeton actor * John Trudell (1946–2015), Santee activist,

American Indian Movement The American Indian Movement (AIM) is a Native American grassroots movement which was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota in July 1968, initially centered in urban areas in order to address systemic issues of poverty, discrimination, and police br ...

leader Contemporary Sioux people are also listed under the tribes to which they belong:

By individual tribe

* Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation * Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of the Crow Creek Reservation * Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe * Lower Brule Sioux Tribe of the Lower Brule Reservation *

Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC) ( Dakota: ''Bdemayaṭo Oyate'') is a federally recognized, sovereign Indian tribe of Mdewakanton Dakota people, located southwest of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, within parts of the cities of Pr ...

* Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate * Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota *

Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota The Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota is a federally recognized tribe of Yankton Western Dakota people, located in South Dakota. Their Dakota name is Ihaƞktoƞwaƞ Dakota Oyate, meaning "People of the End Village" which comes from the p ...

Citations

External links

About Dakota Wicohan
* {{authority control First Nations in Manitoba First Nations in Ontario First Nations in Saskatchewan Native American tribes in Minnesota Native American tribes in Nebraska Native American tribes in North Dakota Native American tribes in South Dakota Plains tribes Sioux