S I O UX From Woodlands to the Plains P E O P L E S of N O R T H A M E R I C A A lthough today we think of the Sioux as the great warriors of the Plains they did not actually move onto the Great Plains until the late 1600s and early 1700s Scholars disagree over where the earliest Sioux ancestors came from Some say they migrated from the far north near the Arctic Circle Others contend that the Sioux originated in the southeastern part of North America Most scholars agree however that by about a d 800 the ancestors of the Sioux had moved into the woodlands of what are today the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota These Sioux ancestors may have lived in small family groups for a time before settling in larger permanent villages around 1300 There they likely lived in bark lodges and hunted deer rab bits and other small game harvested wild rice and planted small gardens A couple times a year they may have sent hunting parties west to hunt bison on the Plains By the mid-1600s the Sioux had split into three groups each speaking a different DIALECT of the Siouan language and living in a different territory The Dakota Sioux also called the Santee made up the easternmost group near the Great Lakes They spoke the Dakota dialect To the southwest of the Dakota were the Yankton who spoke the Nakota dialect The Lakota Sioux leaders such as Red Tomahawk fought to protect their ancestral homeland be fore finally making peace 9
By the late 1800s the presence of American forts near Sioux camps helped restrict people’s travels Sioux also called Teton lived farthest west near the border of present-day Minnesota and South Dakota and spoke Lakota Each group was fur ther divided into smaller bands The Dakota for example were made up of the Mdewakanton Wahpekute Sisseton and Wahpeton The Yankton consisted of the Yankton and Yanktonai And the Lakota were divided into seven bands Oglala Sicangu Sihasapa Miniconjou Sans Arc Oohenupa and Hunkpapa Individuals did not have to remain with the Sioux band they were born into and they might travel from group to group frequently The languages they spoke were all close enough to be mutually understood The Sioux were not the only American Indians in the area though The powerful Ojibwa also called Ojibway Ojibwe or Chippewa moved into the Great Lakes region as European set tlers pushed west in the 1600s The Ojibwa wanted the land to themselves and they had acquired new weapons guns from French traders that proved useful in pushing the Sioux off their traditional lands and toward the Great Plains According to 20th century Sioux MEDICINE MAN Leonard Crow Dog We came from the land of the Great Lakes Then the French gave guns matchlocks to the Ojibway We had only bows and arrows So we were pushed toward the west The Sioux may have also been lured toward the Plains by the promise of more plentiful game for both trade and food The Sioux move west likely began in the late 1600s and con tinued into the 1700s The Dakota Sioux moved into southern and western Minnesota while the Yankton moved into the eastern 10
i x ou S g n i e B O N E B I S O N 2 0 0 U S E S The Sioux used every part of the bison to make nearly 200 different items The hides were used as robes while tanned skins were used for tepee covers and clothing For thread the Sioux used SINEW from the bison’s back and legs Horns were fashioned into spoons or bowls Hooves were boiled to make glue and bones were made into tools The tail was used to swat flies Even the stomach was used as a kettle The skull served as an ALTAR for rituals
