SIOUX

SIOUX. Referred to collectively by outsiders as Sioux, a French rendition of the Ottawa name na•towe•ssiwak, meaning "enemy," the Sioux call themselves Lakota or Dakota, depending on dialect, signifying "allies." While linguists trace their origins to the southeastern United

States, some Lakotas and Dakotas today say they emerged from the Black Hills, where they have lived for millennia. At the time of early European contact these groups were found in southern Minnesota, extending east to western Wisconsin and south to northern Iowa and westward across the prairies of North and South Dakota. By the late nineteenth century some Sioux had made their way west as far as eastern Montana. The total Sioux population reached its nadir in 1890 at 25,920. In the 2000 U.S. Census, 153,360 people self-identified as Sioux or Sioux and other tribal affiliations.

The Sioux conceptualize themselves as the Seven Council Fires. The easternmost division, the Santees, consist of four tribes: Mdewakanton (Spirit Lake Village), Wahpeton (Leaf Village), Wahpekute (Leaf Shooters), and Sisseton (sometimes translated as Fish Scale Village). The central division, the Yanktons, are made up of two tribes, Yankton (End Village) and Yanktonai (Little End Village). The westernmost division, the Tetons, consists of seven tribes: Sicangu (also Brule, Burnt Thighs), Hunkpapa

(End of the Camp Circle), Miniconjou (Planters by the Water), Oglala (They Scatter Their Own), Oohenonpa (Two Kettles), Itazipco (also Sans Arcs, Without Bows), and Sihasapa (Blackfeet). The Assiniboine and Sioux were formerly one people but at the time of European contact the Assiniboines allied themselves with the Crees and moved north and west, settling by the early nineteenth century in Saskatchewan and northeastern Montana. The westernmost Assiniboines moved to the Rocky Mountains in Alberta and became a separate tribe, the Stoneys.

The Sioux maintained their own historical records through oral traditions. The Yanktons and Tetons also preserved winter counts, pictographic records that associated each year (winter) with an event significant to the group. The Dakotas are first mentioned in European writings in 1640, and the first recorded contact with them was by French explorers in about 1660. The Dakotas and Lakotas encountered Lewis and Clark in 1804.

All the Sioux were primarily nomadic hunters and gatherers whose lives focused on the buffalo, a pattern that intensified with the introduction of European horses and guns in the eighteenth century. Each of the Dakota and Lakota tribes was organized into bands that were composed of families related by blood, marriage, and adoption. Each band established its own territory for hunting and gathering. These bands were largely independent but allied into larger groups for communal hunts and warfare. All the Sioux shared a common culture, but some of the Santees and Yanktons borrowed elements of Woodlands and Missouri River cultures, most significantly the Chip-pewa midewiwin, or medicine dance, and earth lodges from the riverine tribes. These Santee and Yankton bands constructed permanent villages, gathered wild rice, fished, and engaged in limited agriculture. Religious rituals practiced by all the Sioux include the sun dance, vision quest, and sweat lodge. While they practiced a rigidly defined sexual division of labor, respect was accorded to both gender groups for successful fulfillment of their respective roles. Contemporary Lakotas and Dakotas continue to stress the separate but complementary roles of men and women in their society.

Warfare was both a political and ritual act, and military service continues to be considered prestigious among these peoples. After sporadic contacts with the French and British, the Lakotas and Dakotas dealt primarily with the United States, first through the fur trade and then in the struggle to maintain their lands and traditions. As the United States expanded westward, a series of treaties resulted in significant land loss for the Sioux. The treaties of Mendota and Traverse des Sioux in 1851 placed the Santees in difficult circumstances, precipitating the Minnesota Conflict of 1862. The majority of the Santees fled into Canada or were exiled to a reservation in Nebraska. As Americans pressed farther west, the Yanktons and Lakotas entered into the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851. Further American expansion through Lakota territory led to a series of conflicts sometimes called Red Cloud's War, which ended with the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The insistence by the United States that the Lakotas leave their hunting territories to settle on their reservation precipitated the Battle of the Little Bighorn on 25 June 1876. Lakota lands diminished when the Black Hills were alienated through the Agreement of 1876, and much more land was forfeited through the Agreement of 1889, which broke up the Great Sioux Reservation into small units. Cultural disruption, mistreatment, and famine in 1889 all encouraged the spread of the Ghost Dance Movement among these peoples and culminated in the tragic Wounded Knee Massacre in 1890.

Although some history books mark the "end" of the Lakota and Dakota tribes with Wounded Knee, this is clearly not the case. The persistence of the Lakotas as well as the dire conditions of reservation life came into public prominence through the Wounded Knee Occupation of 1973. The Lakotas continue to pursue various land claims, most significantly the claim for the Black Hills. In 1980 the Supreme Court recognized the rank illegality of the alienation of the Black Hills and awarded the Lakotas $106 million. The Lakotas, however, have refused to accept the money, seeking instead the return of the land. Lakotas and Dakotas today live on reservations in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Minnesota, Montana, and the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan as well as in urban areas throughout the United States and Canada. They continue to shape their own lives and struggle to maintain their distinct legal, linguistic, and cultural identity as they negotiate their relationships with the rest of the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Sturtevant, William C., gen. ed. Handbook of North American Indians. Vol. 13 (2 parts): Plains, edited by Raymond J. DeMallie. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution, 2001. The following articles are relevant to the Sioux: Part 1: Raymond J. DeMallie and David Reed Miller, "Assiniboine"; Ian A. L. Getty and Erik D. Gooding, "Stoney." Part 2: Raymond J. DeMallie, "Sioux until 1850," "Teton," "Yankton and Yanktonai"; Patricia Albers, "Santee"; Dennis N. Christafferson, "Sioux, 1930–2000." This volume is the most authoritative and comprehensive written work on the Sioux.

Bucko, Raymond A. "Lakota Dakota Bibliography." http://puffin.creighton.edu/lakota/biblio.html. Contains an extensive bibliography of Lakota and Dakota materials.

Raymond A.Bucko

See alsoLakota Language ; Laramie, Fort, Treaty of (1851) ; Laramie, Fort, Treaty of (1868) ; Wounded Knee (1973) ; andvol. 9:Account of the Battle at Little Bighorn ; Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 ; A Letter from Wovoka ; Speech of Little Crow on the Eve of the Great Sioux Uprising .

Sioux or Dakota, confederation of Native North American tribes, the dominant group of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, which is divided into several separate branches (see Native American languages ). The Sioux, or Dakota, consisted of seven tribes in three major divisions: Wahpekute, Mdewakantonwan, Wahpetonwan, Sisitonwan (who together formed the Santee or Eastern division, sometimes referred to as the Dakota), the Ihanktonwan, or Yankton, and the Ihanktonwana, or Yanktonai (who form the Middle division, sometimes referred to as the Nakota), and the Titonwan, or Teton (who form the Western division, sometimes referred to as the Lakota). The Tetons, originally a single band, divided into seven sub-bands after the move to the plains, these seven including the Hunkpapa, Sihasapa (or Blackfoot), and Oglala.

Migration toward the Southwest

The Sioux were first noted historically in the Jesuit Relation of 1640, when they were living in what is now Minnesota. Their traditions indicate that they had moved there some time before from the northeast. They were noted in 1678 by the French explorer Daniel Duluth and in 1680 by Father Louis Hennepin in the Mille Lacs region in Minnesota. Their migration had been in a southwesterly direction in the face of the hostile Ojibwa, who had been equipped with guns by Europeans.

In the mid-18th cent., having driven the Cheyenne and Kiowa out of the Black Hills, the Sioux inhabited the N Great Plains and the western prairies—mainly in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and up into the bordering provinces of Canada. They then numbered at least 30,000. The Tetons, numbering some 15,000, were the most populous of the seven tribes, and the Oglala Sioux, the largest group of the Teton, numbered some 3,000. The Sioux had a typical Plains-area culture, including buffalo hunting and the sun dance.

Relations with White Settlers

In relations with the white settlers all the divisions of the Sioux have a similar history. The Sioux became friendly with the British after the fall of the French power and supported the British against the United States in the American Revolution and (with the exception of one chief, Tohami, also known as Rising Moose) in the War of 1812. The United States concluded treaties with the Sioux in 1815, 1825, and 1851. A portion of the Sioux under Little Crow rose in 1862 and massacred more than 800 settlers and soldiers in Minnesota; this revolt was suppressed but unrest continued.

In 1867 a treaty was concluded by which the Sioux gave up a large section of territory and agreed to retire to a reservation in SW Dakota before 1876. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the subsequent rush of prospectors brought resistance under the leadership of such chiefs as Sitting Bull , Red Cloud , Rain-in-the-Face, Crazy Horse , American Horse, and Gall. In this revolt occurred the famous last stand by Gen. George Armstrong Custer . The last major conflict fought by the Sioux was the battle of Wounded Knee , Dec. 29, 1890, which resulted in the massacre of more than 200 members of the tribe.

The Sioux Today

In Feb., 1973, about 200 supporters, mostly Sioux, of the American Indian Movement seized control of the hamlet of Wounded Knee, S.Dak., demanding U.S. Senate investigations of Native American conditions. The occupation lasted 70 days, during which about 300 persons were arrested by federal agents. In 1979 the Sioux were awarded $105 million for the taking of their lands, resolving a legal action begun in 1923. Today they constitute one of the largest Native American groups, living mainly on reservations in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana; the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is the second largest in the United States. Many are engaged in farming and ranching, including the raising of bison. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux have a large casino on their reservation in Minnesota, but Oglala efforts to establish one at impoverished Pine Ridge have met with only partial success. Indian Country Today, a successful Native American newspaper, was started at Pine Ridge in 1981; it is now based in Rapid City, S.Dak. In 1990 there were more than 100,000 Sioux in the United States and more than 10,000 in Canada.

Bibliography

See R. H. Ruby, The Oglala Sioux (1955); G. E. Hyde, A Sioux Chronicle (1956); C. M. Oehler, The Great Sioux Uprising (1959); K. Carley, The Sioux Uprising of 1862 (1961); R. M. Utley, The Last Days of the Sioux Nation (1963); R. Hassrick, The Sioux (1964); E. Nurge, ed., The Modern Sioux (1970); R. Burnette, The Tortured Americans (1971); E. T. Denig, Five Indian Tribes of the Upper Missouri (1975).

Sioux (Dakota) Group of seven Native American tribes inhabiting Minnesota, Nebraska, North and South Dakota, and Montana. The tribes concluded several treaties with the US government during the 19th century, and finally agreed in 1867 to settle on a reservation in sw Dakota. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the rush of prospectors brought resistance from Sioux chiefs. The last confrontation resulted in the massacre of more than 200 Sioux at the Battle of Wounded Knee (1890). The Sioux culture was typical of the Americans of the Great Plains. Today, there are more than 50,000 Sioux. See also Sitting Bull

Sioux any one of a group of several Plains Indian tribes located between the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and speaking a Souian language. Perhaps the best known of the Sioux tribes was the Lakota Sioux.

Sioux / soō/ • n. (pl. same) another term for the Dakota people or their language. See Dakota² . • adj. of or relating to this people or their language.

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