Great Sioux Nation
Encyclopedia
The Great Sioux Nation is a general term sometimes applied to the Sioux
. The Great Sioux Nation is divided into three linguistically and regionally based groups and several subgroups:
The term "Great Sioux Nation" is also sometimes applied to a hypothetical state in the western and midwestern United States, which would occupy the following recognized Indian Reservations:
The hypothetical state would also include the defunct Great Sioux reservation
and other "unceded Indian territory" in four states, as well as parts of the following states:
Therefore, the theoretical Great Sioux Nation occupies only parts of the United States where Sioux tribes have some legal claim with regard to treaties with the Federal government. (See, e.g., Treaty of Fort Laramie
and map of treaty land in External Links section, below.) It also is heavily tilted in favor of the Lakota people. Only a fraction of land occupied by Dakota
and Nakota
tribes immediately before white settlement is included, while virtually all Lakota land is included.
Historically, the Great Sioux Nation and the United States have had a turbulent relationship. The last great Indian battles, the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre
, were fought between these two peoples.
such as the Nakoda (Stoney) are descendants of the Great Sioux Nations.
Sioux
The Sioux are Native American and First Nations people in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or any of the nation's many language dialects...
. The Great Sioux Nation is divided into three linguistically and regionally based groups and several subgroups:
- LakotaLakota languageLakota is a Siouan language spoken by the Lakota people of the Sioux tribes. While generally taught and considered by speakers as a separate language, Lakota is mutually understandable with the other two languages , and is considered by most linguists one of the three major varieties of the Sioux...
(a.k.a. Lakȟóta, Teton)- Northern Lakota (Húŋkpapȟa, Sihásapa)
- Central Lakota (Mnikȟówožu, Itázipčho, Oóhenuŋpa)
- Southern Lakota (Oglála, Sičháŋǧu)
- Western DakotaDakota languageDakota 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.-Dialects:...
(a.k.a. Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta)- Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ)
- Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna)
- Eastern DakotaDakota languageDakota 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.-Dialects:...
(a.k.a. Santee-Sisseton or Dakhóta)- Santee (Isáŋyathi: Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute)
- Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ)
The term "Great Sioux Nation" is also sometimes applied to a hypothetical state in the western and midwestern United States, which would occupy the following recognized Indian Reservations:
- Oglala (Pine Ridge Indian ReservationPine Ridge Indian ReservationThe Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is an Oglala Sioux Native American reservation located in the U.S. state of South Dakota. Originally included within the territory of the Great Sioux Reservation, Pine Ridge was established in 1889 in the southwest corner of South Dakota on the Nebraska border...
) - SićanguBruléThe Brulé are one of the seven branches or bands of the Teton Lakota Sioux American Indian nation. They are known as Sičháŋǧu Oyáte , or "Burnt Thighs Nation," and so, were called Brulé by the French...
(Rosebud Indian ReservationRosebud Indian ReservationThe Rosebud Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in South Dakota, United States. It is the home of the federally recognized Sicangu Oyate, also known as Sicangu Lakota, the Upper Brulé Sioux Nation, and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe , a branch of the Lakota people...
) - HunkpapaHunkpapaThe Hunkpapa are a Native American group, one of the seven council fires of the Lakota Sioux tribe. The name Húŋkpapȟa is a Sioux word meaning "Head of the Circle"...
(Standing Rock Indian ReservationStanding Rock Indian ReservationThe Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States...
/Cheyenne River Indian ReservationCheyenne River Indian ReservationThe Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following its victory over the Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost all of Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota...
) - Minniconjou (Cheyenne River Indian ReservationCheyenne River Indian ReservationThe Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following its victory over the Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost all of Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota...
) - Sans ArcSans ArcThe Sans Arc, or Itázipčho in Lakota, are a subdivision of the Lakota people. Sans Arc is the French translation of the Lakota name which means, "Without bows." The translator of Wooden Leg: A Warrior Who Fought Custer renders the name as Arrows all Gone...
(Cheyenne River Indian ReservationCheyenne River Indian ReservationThe Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following its victory over the Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost all of Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota...
) - Two KettlesTwo KettlesTwo Kettles or “Two Boilings” was a sub division of the Lakota Sioux tribe of Native Americans.# Wah-nee-wack-ata-o-ne-lar # Oohe Noⁿpa# Ma Waqota...
(Cheyenne River Indian ReservationCheyenne River Indian ReservationThe Cheyenne River Indian Reservation was created by the United States in 1889 by breaking up the Great Sioux Reservation, following its victory over the Lakota in a series of wars in the 1870s. The reservation covers almost all of Dewey and Ziebach counties in South Dakota...
) - Crow Creek Indian Reservation
- Lower Brule Indian ReservationLower Brule Indian ReservationThe 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 central South Dakota in the United States. It is adjacent to the Crow Creek Indian Reservation...
- Santee Indian ReservationSantee Indian ReservationThe Santee Sioux Reservation of the Santee Sioux was established in 1863. The tribal seat of government is located in Niobrara, Nebraska, with reservation lands in Knox County. Established by an Act of the U.S. Congress on March 3, 1863, the Niobrara Reservation was officially recognized in an...
- Yanktonai (Yankton Sioux Indian ReservationYankton Indian ReservationThe Yankton Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Yankton subgroup of the Sioux tribe of Native Americans.The reservation occupies the southeasternmost 60 percent of Charles Mix County in southeastern South Dakota, United States...
) - Flandreau Indian ReservationFlandreau Indian ReservationThe Flandreau Indian Reservation is the reservation of the Santee subgroup of the Sioux tribe of Native Americans. It is located in central Moody County in eastern South Dakota, near the city of Flandreau.-Tribal Information:...
- Lake Traverse Indian ReservationLake Traverse Indian ReservationThe Lake Traverse Indian Reservation is the homeland of the Sisseton–Wahpeton Oyate, a branch of the Sioux group of Native Americans. The reservation is located in parts of five counties in extreme northeastern South Dakota and parts of two counties in southeastern North Dakota, USA...
(Sisseton-Wahpehton) - Lower SiouxLower Sioux Indian ReservationThe Lower Sioux Indian Reservation, also known as the Mdewankanton Tribal Reservation, is an Indian reservation located along the southern bank of the Minnesota River in Redwood County, Minnesota, east of the city of Redwood Falls, just south of Morton...
- Upper SiouxUpper Sioux Indian ReservationThe Upper Sioux Indian Reservation is located in Minnesota Falls Township along the Minnesota River in eastern Yellow Medicine County, Minnesota, five miles south of Granite Falls. It was created in 1938 when 746 acres of land were returned to the tribe...
- Shakopee-MdewakantonShakopee-Mdewakanton Indian ReservationThe Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community is located within parts of the cities of Prior Lake and Shakopee in Scott County, Minnesota, and was previously known as Prior Lake Indian Reservation until it was modified by the Indian Reorganization Act on November 28, 1969. As of the 2000 census, there...
- Prairie IslandPrairie Island Indian CommunityPrairie Island Indian Community is a Mdewakanton Sioux Indian reservation in Goodhue County, Minnesota, along the Mississippi River, in and around the city of Red Wing. It was created in 1889, with boundaries modified after that time. Much of the reservation land was lost following construction of...
- Standing Rock Indian ReservationStanding Rock Indian ReservationThe Standing Rock Indian Reservation is a Lakota, Yanktonai and Dakota Indian reservation in North Dakota and South Dakota in the United States...
- Spirit Lake TribeSpirit Lake TribeThe Spirit Lake Tribe is a Sioux tribe. Its reservation is located in east-central North Dakota on the southern shores of Devils Lake...
(Formerly Devil's Lake Reservation)
The hypothetical state would also include the defunct Great Sioux reservation
Great Sioux reservation
The Great Sioux Reservation was established in the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868, and includes all of modern western South Dakota and modern Boyd County, Nebraska...
and other "unceded Indian territory" in four states, as well as parts of the following states:
- South DakotaSouth DakotaSouth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux American Indian tribes. Once a part of Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889. The state has an area of and an estimated population of just over...
- MontanaMontanaMontana is a state in the Western United States. The western third of Montana contains numerous mountain ranges. Smaller, "island ranges" are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains. This geographical fact is reflected in the state's name,...
- NebraskaNebraskaNebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
- North DakotaNorth DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America, along the Canadian border. The state is bordered by Canada to the north, Minnesota to the east, South Dakota to the south and Montana to the west. North Dakota is the 19th-largest state by area in the U.S....
- WyomingWyomingWyoming is a state in the mountain region of the Western United States. The western two thirds of the state is covered mostly with the mountain ranges and rangelands in the foothills of the Eastern Rocky Mountains, while the eastern third of the state is high elevation prairie known as the High...
Therefore, the theoretical Great Sioux Nation occupies only parts of the United States where Sioux tribes have some legal claim with regard to treaties with the Federal government. (See, e.g., Treaty of Fort Laramie
Treaty of Fort Laramie (1868)
The Treaty of Fort Laramie was an agreement between the United States and the Oglala, Miniconjou, and Brulé bands of Lakota people, Yanktonai Dakota, and Arapaho Nation signed in 1868 at Fort Laramie in the Wyoming Territory, guaranteeing to the Lakota ownership of the Black Hills, and further...
and map of treaty land in External Links section, below.) It also is heavily tilted in favor of the Lakota people. Only a fraction of land occupied by Dakota
Dakota
- Ethnology and linguistics :* Sioux sub-tribes:**Eastern Dakota**Western Dakota* Dakota language, either of two regional varieties of the Sioux language- Geography :United States*North Dakota, a state*South Dakota, a state* Dakota, Illinois, a village...
and Nakota
Nakota
The term Nakota is the endonym used by the native peoples of North America who usually go by the name of Assiniboine , in the United States, and of Stoney, in Canada....
tribes immediately before white settlement is included, while virtually all Lakota land is included.
Historically, the Great Sioux Nation and the United States have had a turbulent relationship. The last great Indian battles, the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Wounded Knee Massacre
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre happened on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, USA. On the day before, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M...
, were fought between these two peoples.
Canada
Canadian First NationsFirst Nations
First Nations is a term that collectively refers to various Aboriginal peoples in Canada who are neither Inuit nor Métis. There are currently over 630 recognised First Nations governments or bands spread across Canada, roughly half of which are in the provinces of Ontario and British Columbia. The...
such as the Nakoda (Stoney) are descendants of the Great Sioux Nations.