The Aborigines Of South Dakota

There is a great deal of information on the native peoples of the United States, which exists largely in national publications. Since much of Native American history occurred before statehood, there is a need for information on Native Americans of the region to fully understand the history and culture of the native peoples that occupied South Dakota and the surrounding areas. The first section is contains an overview of early history of the state and region. The second section contains an A to Z dictionary of tribal articles and biographies of noteworthy Native Americans that have contributed to the history of South Dakota. The third section contains several selections from the classic book, A Century of Dishonor, which details the history of broken promises made to the tribes throughout the country during the early history of America. The fourth section offers the publishers opinion on the government dealings with the Native Americans, in addition to a summation of government tactics that were used to achieve the suppression of the Native Americans.

The Sioux constitute a diverse group of tribes who claimed and controlled almost a quarter of the continental U.S. from the late 1700s to the 1860s. The name Sioux was coined by French traders and was taken from the Anishinabe word Nadoweisiw-eg, meaning little snake or enemy. The rival Chippewa (Ojibway/Anishinabe) tribe used this term to describe the group. The Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation, a central part of the Great Sioux Reservation, is home to four bands of the Western Lakota Sioux prominently featured in this book: the Minnicoujou, Itazipco, Siha Sapa, and Oohenumpa.