The Bdote Memory Map is an interactive

online map Web mapping or an online mapping is the process of using, creating, and distributing maps on the World Wide Web (the Web), usually through the use of Web GIS, Web geographic information systems (Web GIS). A web map or an online map is both served ...

and website by which the

Dakota people The Dakota (pronounced , or ) are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American tribe (Native American), tribe and First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultur ...

trace their history and passed down memory of

Bdóte Bdóte ( ""; ; deprecated spelling Mdote) is a significant Dakota people, Dakota sacred landscape where the Minnesota River, Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers meet, encompassing Pike Island, Fort Snelling, Coldwater Spring, Indian Mounds Park (Sai ...

—the region that is now referred to as the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in stat ...

area in

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

. It allows viewers to explore the history of the region as told from an

Indigenous Indigenous may refer to: *Indigenous peoples *Indigenous (ecology) In biogeography, a native species is indigenous to a given region or ecosystem if its presence in that region is the result of only local natural evolution (though often populari ...

perspective. With video, audio, and other multimedia forms, the map provides the voices of Native speakers to tell their personal and ancestral stories of the region at the junction of the

Mississippi Mississippi ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Alabama to the east, the Gulf of Mexico to the south, Louisiana to the s ...

and

Minnesota River The Minnesota River () 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 rises in southwestern ...

s, known by the Dakota people as Bdote, meaning "where the two waters come together".

History

Mona Smith, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Dakota videographer, helped create the Bdote Memory Map in partnership with the Minnesota Humanities Center. The Memory Map grew out of a 2006 multimedia exhibition Mona Smith put on at the Ancient Traders Gallery entitled "City Indians," reflecting the seemingly ironic term attached to Dakota living in the

. Smith, however, wished to express how the cities grew in areas that were already their land, the bdote. After the Minnesota Humanities Center extended funding, what began as a map of the region where Native Americans could attach post-it notes of their memories eventually became the online Bdote Memory Map.

Website layout

When first entering the website, a four sided wheel, representing the traditional Dakota Medicine Wheel, prompts the visitor to explore the map or other writings on the Dakota and information about the website. The map itself is an interactive map of the Bdote region. There are several physical markers on the map that viewers are encouraged to click on, from which a specific memory or story will emerge. These can take the form of videos, audio recordings, writings and more from Indigenous writers, artists, elders, students, and experts. Many of these writings will also prompt visitors with questions to reflect on the meaning of what they have learned. The website additionally includes teachers' guides for instruction on Indigenous peoples in the classroom, informational resources about the Dakota, American Indian legal histories, as well as a variety of historical maps of both the Bdote and the larger Americas as well.

Current and future developments

The Bdote Memory Map is still soliciting Indigenous memories and stories of the Bdote region today to add to its platform. Smith is hoping to eventually expand the map's area of coverage to include Indigenous stories from throughout the entire Mississippi region down to

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

References

External links

* * Dakota Minneapolis–Saint Paul Native American tribes in Minnesota Web mapping {{website-stub