Dakota

Dakota  Anishinabe

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The term "Dakota" translates as "friends" or "allies". The Anishinabe (Ojibwe) referred to the Dakota as "enemy" in the Anishinabe language. French traders used the last syllable of this term and labeled the Dakota as "Sioux." Today, they are known as both Dakota and Sioux. The Dakota Nation includes the native peoples who once lived in the northern forests and along the upper Mississippi River in northern Minnesota. In time, the Dakota Nation divided into three groups (Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota), each moving in different directions but still maintaining close ties to one another. The Eastern Dakota live closest to the Mississippi River. The Dakota consist of four main bands, which make up four of the seven council fires of the Dakota nation: Bdewakanton (Dwellers at Mystic Lake) - Also known as Mdewakanton. Reservations: Lower Sioux, Prairie Island, Shakopee in Minnesota. Wahpekute (Shooters of the Leaves) - Reservations: Santee (Nebraska), Fort Peck (Montana), Spirit Lake (North Dakota) Sisutunwan (Dwellers by the Fish Campground) - Reservations: Lake Traverse (South/North Dakota) and Spirit Lake Wahpetonwan (Dwellers Among the Leaves) - Reservations: Lake Traverse, Flandreau, Spirit Lake

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The content of these pages was carefully researched, but the authors are not experts on Dakota culture.

If you are Dakota, your feedback is much appreciated.

Bibliography

Densmore, Frances

    1997  Dakota and Ojibwe People in Minnesota. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society.

Minnesota Historical Society

    1970  The Dakota or Sioux. Gopher Historian Leaflet Series Number 5. St. Paul: Minnesota Historical Society.

Where we are today. Former link http://drivinghawk.com/today.htm (2009)