Early Native American History of North Dakota

Rugged and rural, North Dakota is steeped in the history of the Native American people who populated America long before European settlers arrived to make their marks and dominate the land. Among those original tribes were the Sioux Indians and it was through them that the state got its name.It was derived from the Dakota division of the Sioux peoples.

Early tribes in the area were the Arikara.the Mandans, Hidatsa and the Chippewa. The latter are among the largest of the Native American tribes and the Sioux were among their most fierce enemies. Left to their own devices, the Chippewa lived in groups and set up camps with a traditional birch tree configuration covered with animal hides, known as wigwams, formed their homes. They fished and hunted and cultivated wild rice. They used pictorial writing on birch bark and on rock. Today the wealth of complex images that have survived, demonstrate their advanced knowledge of mathematics, history and geometry.

The state remains one of the least populated and in the rural areas its appearance has not changed very much over the centuries. The rolling flat prairies seem endless but the fertile ground combined with abundant herds of buffalo and antelope made life posssible for the native people living there several thousands of years ago. Their life was hard with a climate that caused alternate droughts and flooding with tornadoes and blizzards thrown into the mix. Those early Native American tribes were resilient and courageous.

Sadly these qualities did not enable them to fight on equal terms as the "white men" armed with whiskey and guns travelled into their territories and began to take the lands for themselves. The wealth of wildlife providing animal skins and the subsequent discovery of gold lead to abuse and murder of the native peoples and their lands being comandeered

The Sioux name is emotive and lives on in American history, as does the name of their leader Sitting Bull who tried to help his people keep their land as the European settlers moved in and dominated the land.The influx of these settlers when gold was discovered in the Black Hills of South Dakota lead to major conflict. Among the battles remembered to this day are the Battle of the Little Big Horn and the final death knell for the Sioux at the Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

Take advantage of cheap car hire Seattle airport to visit your heritage and by learning about our nation`s past we may be better able to secure our future.