LAKOTA INDIANS

History
The Lakota Sioux Indians migrated from Minnesota in the 1700s to the South Dakota areas. For more than 160 years, the Lakota held a massive piece of land in the plains to support the bison herds which they hunted on their lands. In those times, there were over 60 million bison on the Great Plains and the Lakota reigned over 80 million acres of land on the plains.

The Lakota were the "typical" nomadic, equestrian Plains Indians who lived in tipis and hunted buffalo. They were exceptional horsemen, skilled hunters, and superior warriors. Because they had no written language, their heritage was entrusted to storytellers and drawings on bison hides. A single hide may represent up to over 50 years of Lakota history.


The Lakota tribes were divided into family groups called tiyospaye. Hunting bison and processing the meat, hide, and bones were tasks for the entire tiyospaya. They built earthen lodges for the winter and conical bison hide tipis for the summer hunting.

As the push for western expansion of white settlers continued, the federal government entered into a series of treaties with the Lakotas. The Ft. Laramie Treaty of 1868established the Great Sioux Reservation, giving tribes the inhabited lands from the Missouri River west to the Bighorn Mountains of Wyoming and also giving them food and clothes annually.

However, with the gold rush, the treaties were broken when their land was converted by miners and settlers. US Army troops began rounding up Indians. Sitting Bull called 10 Lakota tribes and other tribes to plan there defense. On June 25, 1876, at the Battle of Little Bighorn they historically destroyed Custer's force, killing Custer and his 200 troops. Congress then cut tribal rations and took more land away from the Lakota.

In the winter of 1890, at Wounded Knee Creek, after an exhausting 150 mile journey through the Badlands, Lakota Chief Big Foot and his weary band were surrounded by the Seventh Cavalry. The following morning, a shot rang out and the troops began fire into the Indian camp. Over 200 Lakota, including big Foot and his Daughter, were killed.