THE LAKOTA – PART 1 of 2

[Please keep in mind this is a general, quick and brief summary of a vast, complex history and culture using just the few resources listed above. If the title said THE GERMANS or THE CHINESE and reported drinking beer or eating rice, that DOES NOT MEAN it is totally correct statement for each and every person in those cultures at all moments of existence! Ed.] 

The Lakota (Teton Sioux) are actually a broad group of people that includes the seven bands of the Western (or Teton) Lakota, the Dakota (Yankton and Yanktoni) and the Nakota (Santee). This group of three tribes lived in the Plains for only a part of their known history, changing locations and community structure a number of times. The name Sioux can mean "Snake" or "Enemy." However, the Sioux generally call themselves Lakota or Dakota, meaning "friends, allies, or to be friendly." 

Early Lakota history is recorded in their winter count pictorial calendars painted on hides or later recorded on paper. The Battiste Good winter count is a record of the Lakota history back to the year 900, when White Buffalo Calf Woman gave the Lakota people the White Buffalo Calf Pipe. The Lakota is a group comprised of seven tribal bands and the largest and most western of the groups. These subdivisions were not culturally distinct from each other in their Woodland home, but became more distinct as the people relocated westward.

The total population of the Sioux (Lakota, Santee, Yankton, and Yanktonai) was estimated at 28,000 by French traders/explorers in 1660. In 1805, the Lakota population was estimated at 8,500, growing steadily and reaching 16,110 in 1881. The Lakota were one of the few Indian tribes to increase in population in the 19th century. 

ORIGINS:

Sioux language speakers may have originated in the lower Mississippi River region and then migrated to or originated in the Ohio Valley. They were agriculturalists and may have been part of the Mound Builder civilization during the 800s–1100s. In the late 1500s and early 1600s, Dakota-Lakota-Nakota speakers lived in the upper Great lakes Region in present day Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

When located in the Great Lakes, or Woodland area, the people were allied in what was known as the Seven Council Fires. This was comprised of the Santee division (Dakota speakers) with four groups, the Middle division (Nakota speakers) with two groups, and the Teton or Western division (Lakota speakers) originally consisting of one group. The people were semi-sedentary and their economy was based on fishing, hunting small game and deer, gathering wild rice, and some cultivation of corn when Europeans began to explore and settle the land in the 1600s. Hard-pressed by the neighboring Anishnabe (called Chippawa by the Lakota), Ojibwa, and the Cree, many armed with guns traded by French fur trappers, the Sioux were forced westward in the mid- to late-1600s. The Teton and Middle Sioux began a trek westward with the Teton in the lead. With the emergence on the Plains, the people became almost totally involved in a buffalo hunting economy. The buffalo supplied the main source of food as well as many material needs such as housing, clothing, and implements.

After c1720, the Lakota branch of the Seven Council Fires split into two major sects, the Saône who moved to the lake area on the South Dakota–North Dakota–Minnesota border, and the Oglála-Sičháŋǧu who occupied the ease-central North Dakota. By about 1750 however, the Saône had moved to the east bank of the Missouri River, followed 10 years later by the Oglála and Brulé (Sičháŋǧu). 

Around c1730, Cheyenne people introduced the Lakota to horses, called šuŋkawakaŋ ("dog [of] power/mystery/wonder"). With the acquisition of horses, the Teton quickly developed a culture that centered around the horse and flourished with hunting buffalo on the high plains and as far north as Canada. 

By c1750 the Middle Sioux were settled along the Missouri River but the large and powerful Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa villages prevented the Lakota from crossing west over the Missouri. The Lakota eventually crossed the river into the drier, short-grass prairies of the High Plains. These newcomers were the Saône, well-mounted and increasingly confident, who spread out quickly, and by c1765, a Saône exploring and raiding party led by Chief Standing Bear discovered the Black Hills (the Paha Sapa), the territory at that time of the Cheyenne who had earlier taken the region from the Kiowa. 

INTO THE BLACK HILLS (the PAHA SAPA):

The Oglála and Brulé also crossed the river about the same times as the great smallpox epidemic of c1770–1780 destroyed three-quarters of the previous Arikara, Mandan, and Hidatsa tribes. In 1776, the Lakota defeated the Cheyenne who then moved from much of the Black Hills area to the west into northeastern Wyoming, and the Lakota made most of the Black Hills as their home territory. 

By c1869, an ongoing dispute over the control of the sacred hot springs on the southern edge of the Black Hills (the Paha Sapa), erupted in a fierce battle between the Lakota and the Cheyenne. Given the name of Battle Mountain, it is now the area of Hot Springs, SD. 

BATTLE MOUNTAIN and the SACRED HOT SPRINGS:

Oral history tells of a great plague among the Indians (c1550) and that the Great Spirit touched the hot water springs of the southern hills as a cure for all manner of illnesses. Indians traveled to these springs by the thousands. After a span of more than 200 years, the Cheyenne took possession of the springs and built an immense tipi city covering hundreds of acres. As the Lakota moved into the Black Hills, they disputed the ownership of the springs. This culminated in a fierce conflict in about 1869, where the besieged Cheyenne established fortifications on the mountain overlooking the springs. The Sioux won the battle and took possession of the springs. They called the area Minnekahta (Water - hot) and termed the Black Hills a great "Medicine Home".

After the Battle Mountain fight, tradition says the Lakota and Cheyenne agreed to allow the springs to be a health sanctuary to give their sick and lame the benefit of the healing waters. [After pioneers began to settle the area, the same hot mineral springs became a destination for whites by the train loads from the east to stay in the town of Hot Springs and enjoy the medicinal pools.] 

Next week: PART 2 – Society 

Resources:

http://www.ndstudies.org/resources/IndianStudies/standingrock/migration.html 
http://www.legendsofamerica.com/na-sioux.html 
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/frameset_reset.html
http://www.nebraskastudies.org/0500/stories/0503_0106.html 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lakota_people 
http://www4.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/VTrips/BattleMtnSD.HTM 
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMKJJ_Battle_Mountain 
South Dakota Department of Tourism (including pictures)