The Dakota (pronounced ,

Dakota language Dakota (''Dakhótiyapi, Dakȟótiyapi''), also referred to as Dakhota, is a Siouan language spoken by the Dakota people of the Sioux tribes. Dakota is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the Lakota language. It is critically endange ...

: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to conf ...

and

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

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 Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

and northern

Iowa Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to ...

. 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 Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those ''Assiniboine'' Indigenous people in the US, and by the Stoney People, in Canada. The Assiniboine branched off from the Great Sioux Nation (aka the ''Oceti Sakowin'') long ago and moved ...

, 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.

Name

The word ''Dakota'' means "ally" in the

, 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 Lakota may refer to: * Lakota people, a confederation of seven related Native American tribes *Lakota language, the language of the Lakota peoples Place names In the United States: * Lakota, Iowa * Lakota, North Dakota, seat of Nelson County * La ...

(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 a ...

. 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 The Mdewakanton or Mdewakantonwan (also spelled ''Mdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' and currently pronounced ''Bdewákhaŋthuŋwaŋ'') are one of the sub-tribes of the Isanti (Santee) Dakota (Sioux). Their historic home is Mille Lacs Lake ( Dakota: ''Mde ...

(''Bdewékhaŋthuŋwaŋ'' "Spirit Lake Village" or "people of the mystic lake") **:notable persons:

Taoyateduta Little Crow III ( Dakota: ''Thaóyate Dúta''; 1810 – July 3, 1863) was a Mdewakanton Dakota chief who led a faction of the Dakota in a five-week war against the United States in 1862. In 1846, after surviving a violent leadership conte ...

**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, belonging to the greater Siouan-Catawban language family. It is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the

Lakota language Lakota ( ), also referred to as Lakhota, Teton or Teton Sioux, is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. Lakota is mutually intelligible with the two dialects of the Dakota language, especially Western Dakota, and is ...

, and both are also more distantly related to the Stoney and

Assiniboine The Assiniboine or Assiniboin people ( when singular, Assiniboines / Assiniboins when plural; Ojibwe: ''Asiniibwaan'', "stone Sioux"; also in plural Assiniboine or Assiniboin), also known as the Hohe and known by the endonym Nakota (or Nakoda ...

languages. Dakota is written in the

Latin script The Latin script, also known as Roman script, is an alphabetic writing system based on the letters of the classical Latin alphabet, derived from a form of the Greek alphabet which was in use in the ancient Greek city of Cumae, in southern ...

and has a dictionary and grammar. #

Eastern Dakota The Dakota (pronounced , Dakota language: ''Dakȟóta/Dakhóta'') are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided int ...

(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 Lake Superior in central North America is the largest freshwater lake in the world by surface areaThe Caspian Sea is the largest lake, but is saline, not freshwater. and the third-largest by volume, holding 10% of the world's surface fresh w ...

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 The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains. According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...

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 The Dakota War of 1862, also known as the Sioux Uprising, the Dakota Uprising, the Sioux Outbreak of 1862, the Dakota Conflict, the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, or Little Crow's War, was an armed conflict between the United States and several ba ...

, 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

.for a report on the long-established blunder of misnaming as "Nakota", the Yankton and the Yanktonai, see the article

The actual Nakota are the

and Stoney of

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada– ...

and

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Colu ...

Santee (Isáŋyathi or Eastern Dakota)

Migrations of

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 The Territory of Dakota was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until November 2, 1889, when the final extent of the reduced territory was split and admitted to the Union as the states of N ...

" to the northern expanse west of the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, ...

and up to its headwaters. After the Dakota War of 1862, the federal government expelled the Santee (who included the

) from Minnesota. Many were sent to

Crow Creek Indian Reservation The Crow Creek Indian Reservation ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá okášpe, '' lkt, Kȟaŋğí Wakpá Oyáŋke''), home to Crow Creek Sioux Tribe ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá oyáte) is located in parts of Buffalo, Hughes, and Hyde counties on the east ban ...

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 The Santee Sioux Reservation ( dak, Isáŋyathi) of the Santee Sioux (also known as the Eastern Dakota) was established in 1863 in present-day Nebraska. The tribal seat of government is located in Niobrara, Nebraska, with reservation lands in K ...

. 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

anglicize Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influenc ...

d 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 The Blue Earth River ( dak, Makhátho Wakpá) is a tributary of the Minnesota River, long, in southern Minnesota in the United States. Two of its headwaters tributaries, the Middle Branch Blue Earth River and the West Branch Blue Earth River, a ...

. Most of the Yankton live on the

Yankton Indian Reservation The Yankton Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Yankton Sioux Tribe of the Dakota tribe. The reservation occupies the easternmost 60 percent of Charles Mix County in southeastern South Dakota, United States and abuts the Missouri River ...

in southeastern South Dakota. Some Yankton live on the

Lower Brule Indian Reservation The Lower Brulé Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation that belongs to the Lower Brulé Lakota Tribe. It is located on the west bank of the Missouri River in Lyman and Stanley counties in central South Dakota in the United States. It ...

and

Crow Creek Reservation The Crow Creek Indian Reservation ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá okášpe, '' lkt, Kȟaŋğí Wakpá Oyáŋke''), home to Crow Creek Sioux Tribe ( dak, Khąǧí wakpá oyáte) is located in parts of Buffalo, Hughes, and Hyde counties on the east ban ...

, 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, in areas within central North Dakota. Others live in the eastern half of the

Fort Peck Indian Reservation The Fort Peck Indian Reservation ( asb, húdam wįcášta, dak, Waxchį́ca oyáte) is located near Fort Peck, Montana, in the northeast part of the state. It is the home of several federally recognized bands of Assiniboine, Nakota, Lakota, a ...

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 , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, southern

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Da ...

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 The Platte River () is a major river in the State of Nebraska. It is about long; measured to its farthest source via its tributary, the North Platte River, it flows for over . The Platte River is a tributary of the Missouri River, which itse ...

, from Minnesota to the

Yellowstone River The Yellowstone River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately long, in the Western United States. Considered the principal tributary of upper Missouri, via its own tributaries it drains an area with headwaters across the mountains an ...

, including the Powder River country.

Modern reservations, reserves, and communities of the Sioux

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

Notable Dakota people

Historical

* Hazaiyankawin ( Azayamankawin), Mdewakanton Dakota woman who ran canoe ferry service in

Saint Paul, Minnesota Saint Paul (abbreviated St. Paul) is the capital of the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county seat of Ramsey County. Situated on high bluffs overlooking a bend in the Mississippi River, Saint Paul is a regional business hub and the center ...

*Inkpaduta ( Scarlet Point/Red End), Wahpekute Dakota war chief * Ištáȟba ( Sleepy Eye), Sisseton Dakota chief * Maḣpiya Wic̣aṡṭa (

Cloud Man Cloud Man ( Dakota: ; – 1862/1863) was a Dakota chief. The child of French and Mdewakanton parents, he founded the agricultural community Ḣeyate Otuŋwe on the shores of Bde Maka Ska in 1829 after being trapped in a snowstorm for three day ...

), Mdewakanton Dakota chief * Ohíyes'a ( Charles Eastman), Dakota author, physician and reformer who helped found the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded i ...

* 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 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

* Thaóyate Dúta ( Little Crow III/His Red Nation), Mdewakanton Dakota chief of

Kaposia Kaposia or Kapozha was a seasonal and migratory Dakota settlement, also known as "Little Crow's village," once located on the east side of the Mississippi River in present-day Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Kaposia band of Mdewakanton Dakota was est ...

band and military leader during U.S.–Dakota War of 1862 * Ti'wakan (

Gabriel Renville Gabriel Renville (April 1825 – August 26, 1892), also known as Ti'wakan (Sacred Lodge), was Chief of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate Sioux Tribe from 1866 until his death in 1892. He opposed conflict with the United States during the Dakota War o ...

), Sisseton Wahpeton chief from 1866 to 1892 *Wapahaśa ( Wabasha II), head chief of Mdewakanton Dakota and Kiyuksa band in early 1800s *Wapahaśa (

Wabasha III Wabasha III (''Wapahaśa)'' (c. 1816–1876) was a prominent Dakota Sioux chief, also known as Joseph Wabasha. He succeeded his father as head chief of the Mdewakanton Dakota in 1836. Following the Dakota War of 1862 and the forced removal of ...

), 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 War Eagle is a battle cry, yell, or motto of Auburn University and supporters of Auburn University sports teams, especially the Auburn Tigers football team. War Eagle is a greeting or salutation among the Auburn Family (e.g., students, alumni, fa ...

), 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 Ella Cara Deloria (January 31, 1889 – February 12, 1971), also called ''Aŋpétu Wašté Wiŋ'' (Beautiful Day Woman), was a Yankton Dakota (Sioux) educator, anthropologist, ethnographer, linguist, and novelist. She recorded Native American ...

(1889 – 1971), author, ethnographer, linguist * Vine Deloria Jr. (1933–2005), Standing Rock author, activist, historian and theologian * Floyd Red Crow Westerman/''Kanghi Duta'' (1936–2007), Sisseton Wahpeton actor *

John Trudell John Trudell (February 15, 1946December 8, 2015) was a Native American author, poet, actor, musician, and political activist. He was the spokesperson for the Indians of All Tribes' takeover of Alcatraz beginning in 1969, broadcasting as ''Radi ...

(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 b ...

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 The Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe ( dak, Wakpa Ipakṡaƞ oyáte) are a federally recognized tribe of Santee Dakota people. Their reservation is the Flandreau Indian Reservation. The tribe are members of the Mdewakantonwan people, one of the sub- ...

* 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 Pri ...

Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate The Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate of the Lake Traverse Reservation ( dak, Sisíthuŋwaŋ Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ oyáte), formerly Sisseton-Wahpeton Sioux Tribe/Dakota Nation, is a federally recognized tribe comprising two bands and two subdivisions of the '' ...

* Standing Rock Sioux Tribe of North and South Dakota * Yankton Sioux Tribe of South Dakota

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