Plains Tribes
The Great Plains is the huge area in the central portion of the North American continent which stretches from the Canadian provinces in the north, almost to the Gulf of Mexico in the south, from the Rocky Mountains in the west to the Mississippi River in the east. This is an area which contains many different kinds of habitat: flatland, dunes, hills, tablelands, stream valleys, and mountains. It is a dry region and lacks trees except along rivers and streams. Plains Indians are those which are most often stereotyped by movies and other media as representing all Indians. The buffalo, the horse, and the tipi are all important items in Plains cultures.
Lower Plains:
Arkansas | Louisiana | Oklahoma | Texas
Upper Plains: Iowa | Kansas | Minnesota | Missouri | Nebraska | North Dakota | South DakotaUpper Mid-West: Illinois | Michigan | Ohio | Wisconsin
The Plains Indians are the indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. Their equestrian culture and resistance to domination by Canada and the United States have made the Plains Indians an archetype in literature and art for American Indians everywhere. Plains Indians are usually divided into two broad classifications which overlap to some degree. The first group became fully nomadic and dependent upon the horse during the 18th and 19th centuries, following the vast herds of buffalo, although some tribes occasionally engaged in agriculture; growing tobacco and corn primarily. These include the Blackfoot, Arapaho, Assiniboine, Cheyenne, Comanche, Crow, Gros Ventre, Kiowa, Lakota, Lipan, Plains Apache (or Kiowa Apache), Plains Cree, Plains Ojibwe, Sarsi, Nakoda (Stoney), and Tonkawa.
The second group of Plains Indians includes the aboriginal peoples of the Great Plains, as well as the Prairie Indians who come from as far east as the Mississippi River. These tribes are known as the Lower Plains Tribes or Southern Plains tribes. They were semi-sedentary, and, in addition to hunting buffalo, they lived in villages, raised crops, and actively traded with other tribes. These include the Arikara, Hidatsa, Iowa, Kaw (or Kansa), Kitsai, Mandan, Missouria, Omaha, Osage, Otoe, Pawnee, Ponca, Quapaw, Wichita, and the Santee Dakota, Yanktonai and Yankton Dakota.
Southern Plains
Southern Plains Villagers occupied the Southern Plains from 800 CE to 1500 CE. These Indian people had an agricultural economy which they supplemented by hunting and gathering wild plants. With regard to hunting, the bison was an important animal and was also important in the religious life of the people. Overall, the Southern Plains Villagers had a rich and varied subsistence base.
The Southern Plains Village sites were relatively small, ranging from a half an acre to as large as four acres. They were usually located on major streams or tributaries. These were sites where the fertile sand-loam soils were well-suited to their corn-based agriculture.
Several small communities would often be clustered fairly close together which suggests a rural community composed of several family groups. In some instances, a larger site would serve as the central community for a number of smaller sites which would be located up and down the river valley.
Southern Plains houses tended to be square or rectangular, and made with central support posts. Upright logs placed in postholes were used to form the walls. The walls of the houses were plastered. The houses were roofed with grass thatch. Houses averaged 23 feet long by 14 feet wide.
The Southern Plains Villagers made flaked stone tools from both locally available materials and from materials which had been traded through some distance. They used arrowheads which archaeologists classify as Fresno, Washita, Ellis, and Edgewood types.
The Plains villagers used a variety of ground stone tools, including grinding stones. They also used different types of abrading stones. The sandstone abraders which they used were similar to graded sandpaper. They would be used in making bone tools. Coarse abraders would be used for the initial or rough out work. Then the toolmaker would switch to the medium abraders for intermediate steps. Finally they would use the fine grade for finishing work or re-sharpening.
Using stone tools for grinding corn and plant seeds meant that there was a large amount of grit in the food. This resulted in tooth wear.
The Southern Plains Village people also made pottery. Some of the pottery was made using a limestone temper while some was made using a shell temper. In general, the pots were made for everyday use and tend to have little or no decoration. In addition to pots and bowls, they also made pipes and figurines from clay. The clay figurines were used in fertility ceremonies and the clay pipes were used in tobacco smoking ceremonies.
The Plains Village people used cache pits for storage. These were dug into the ground to a depth of about 4 feet and they were slightly more than 3 feet in diameter.
During the Turkey Creek Phase (1250 to 1450) in Oklahoma, there were trading networks which connected the Southern Plains Villages to the Pueblo villages in the west and the Caddoan groups to the east and northeast.
About 1500 CE, the Southern Villagers appear to have abandoned their heartland and become more dispersed. In some areas of the Southern Plains, the number of sites decreased and there is a substantial increase in the size of the remaining villages. It is possible that climatic conditions forced the people to move eastward where water supplies were more reliable. Some of the Southern Villagers were the ancestors of the historic Wichita. Intrusive groups, such as the Kiowa, began to appear at this time.
Northern Plains
After the Indian Nations on the Northern Plains acquired the horse in the eighteenth century, warfare became more common. Northern Plains warfare, however, was very different from the warfare waged by European countries and later by the United States: it was not usually waged by one tribe against another. War was not waged to conquer other nations. While there were battles in which people were killed, the purpose of war was not to kill people.
Warfare was carried out by small, independent raiding parties rather than by large, organized armies. The motivation for war was personal gain, not tribal nationalism. Through participation in war an individual gained prestige, honor, and even wealth. Since wealth among the Indian nations of the Northern Plains was measured in horses, warriors could increase their wealth by capturing horses from other tribes.
Honor and Prestige:
For Plains Indian warriors, warfare centered around counting coup. “Coup” is a French word indicating “blow,” but for the Indian warrior coup was a war honor. A warrior did not count coup by killing the enemy or collecting scalps or capturing sexual slaves. While it was not uncommon for warriors to kill their enemies in battle, this was not in itself considered to be a particularly noteworthy act of valor.
The actual act of counting coup varied somewhat from tribe to tribe. Among the Cheyenne, for example, the act of counting coup involved touching an enemy with a stick (known as a coup stick), bow, whip, or the open palm of the hand.
Among the Blackfoot, the highest war honors were given to capturing an enemy’s gun. Also ranked high was the capture of a bow, shield, war shirt, war bonnet, or ceremonial pipe. The taking of a scalp ranked below these things.
During the nineteenth and much of the twentieth century many of the written and popular media accounts of Indian warfare stressed the practice of scalping. Yet among the Plains tribes, a scalp was not highly valued: it was simply an emblem of victory. Taking a scalp was not the goal of combat.
Warfare, according to Sioux writer Dr. Charles Eastman was about personal courage and honor:
“It was held to develop the quality of manliness and its motive was chivalric or patriotic, but never the desire for territorial aggrandizement or the overthrow of a brother nation.”
Wealth:
In addition to the acquisition of honor and prestige, war was about gaining personal wealth. An individual who had many horses could gain a great deal of prestige, particularly if he also gave away many horses. Wealth was something that was shared, it was not hoarded nor was it passed down to family members. Wealth had to be earned as it could not be inherited.
Since the objective of many war parties was to capture horses, it was common for the party to leave their camp on foot. If they were going to capture horses, there was no use in taking horses with them.
Religion:
Plains Indian warfare was closely intertwined with religion, but not in the manner of the Europeans. Warfare was never waged because of religious differences. First of all, Plains Indian religions were generally based on animism rather than theism. In animistic religions, spiritual entities communicate with the people through dreams. Thus, a war party might form because a warrior would announce: “I had a dream…..” and those who felt that the dream was strong would join the war party. These dreams of war would usually describe where horses might be captured.
Success in war was generally attributed to the warrior’s individual spiritual power, not to the superiority of a religion, religious belief, or god. Religion, like warfare, was a highly personal thing. War medicine was often acquired through dreams and fasting. War medicine often involved a war song, face paint, and a sacred object to be worn during raids.
Military Strategy:
The military strategy for Plains Indian warfare involved the avoidance of unnecessary risks. From the viewpoint of Indian warriors, craft and cunning were superior to courage. To raid an enemy camp and to capture horses without being detected was a primary goal. Thus the American Corps of Discovery lead by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark lost half of their horses to a raid by Crow warriors and yet they never saw the warriors.
While war parties had nominal leaders, each warrior really fought alone. The goal was personal glory, not tribal victory. If a warrior saw a sign that indicated failure, the warrior might turn around and go home. This was a personal spiritual experience and no-one, including the war party leader, could insist that the warrior continue with the party.
Since surprise was a key element in Indian war strategy, war parties often travelled at night, attempting to avoid detection. The war party would travel in single file with the war leader taking the lead and young men on their first raid traveling in the rear. During the day they would try to stay hidden.
Warfare and the United States:
When the United States military first encountered the Indian nations of the Northern Plains in battle, the army did not understand either Indian military strategies or Indian motivations for fighting. The Indian warriors were not following the rules of war as understood by the Americans. The idea of warriors as individuals who did not follow orders and who could leave the field of battle whenever they wanted created in the minds of the military a stereotype of Indian warriors as cowards.
On the other hand, when Indian warriors first encountered the U.S. Army, they were baffled because the U.S. did not follow the well-established rules of war. The Army fought in the winter; it required soldiers to follow orders even when following them meant sure death; it sought to kill people rather than acquire honor; and it sought to obtain land and religious conversion.
Hasinai
Hidatsa, North Dakota
Iowa (Ioway), Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma
Kaw (Kansa, Kanza), Oklahoma
Kiowa, Oklahoma
Kitsai (Kichai), Oklahoma
Mandan, North Dakota
Missouri (Missouria), Oklahoma
Omaha, Nebraska
Osage, Oklahoma
Otoe (Oto), Oklahoma
Pawnee (dialects: South Band, Skiri), Oklahoma
Ponca, Nebraska, Oklahoma
Quapaw, Oklahoma
Sioux (Also see Sioux Tribes Overview)
Dakota, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Manitoba, Saskatchewan
Lakota (Teton), Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Saskatchewan
Stoney, Alberta
Assiniboine (Assiniboin), Montana, Saskatchewan (Fort Peck Indian Reservation is home to Assiniboine and Sioux)
Tonkawa, Oklahoma
Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee, Sarsi, Tsuut’ina) ,Alberta
Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indians of North Dakota
Wichita (Affiliated Tribes − Wichita, Waco, Tawakoni, Keechi), Oklahoma
Plains Tribes
Anishinaabe (Anishinape, Anicinape, Neshnabé, Nishnaabe) (see also Subarctic, Northeast Woodlands. Wabanaki Confederacy)
Ojibwa (Chippewa, Ojibwe), Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
Saulteaux (Plains Ojibwe, Nakawē), British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba
Chippewa Cree, Montana
Ottawa (Odawa), Oklahoma
Potawatomi, Kansas, Oklahoma
Apache
Jicarilla Apache, New Mexico
Lipan Apache, New Mexico, Texas
Mescalero Apache, New Mexico
Plains Apache (Kiowa-Apache), Oklahoma
Aranama
Arapaho (Arapahoe, Arrapahoe), Oklahoma, Wyoming
Besawunena
Nawathinehena
Atsina (Gros Ventre), Montana
Besawunena
Blackfoot and Blackfeet
Kainah (Blood, Blackfoot), Alberta
Northern Peigan (Blackfoot), Alberta
Southern Piegan (Blackfeet), Montana
Siksika (Blackfoot) Alberta
Caddo
Cheyenne Montana, Oklahoma
Chickasaw Oklahoma
Comanche, Oklahoma
Plains Cree,(Chippewa-Cree), Montana
Crow, (Absaroka, Apsáalooke) Montana
Hasinai
Iowa (Ioway) Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma
Karankawa Texas
Kaw (Kansa) Oklahoma
Kiowa Oklahoma
Kitsai
Missouri tribe (Missouria) Missouri
Nawathinehena
Omaha Nebraska
Mississaugas
Osage Nation Oklahoma
Otoe ( also spelled Oto) Oklahoma
Ottawa Michigan; Oklahoma
Pawnee (Dialects: South Band, Skiri) Oklahoma
Ponca Nebraska, Oklahoma
Quapaw (Arkansas) Arkansas, Oklahoma
Sauk (originally Great Lakes now Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa)
Seneca
Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, Nakota) Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota
Lakota (Sioux) (a.k.a. Lakȟóta, Teton Sioux or Titonwan)South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska
Northern Lakota (Húŋkpapȟa, Sihásapa)
Central Lakota (Mnikȟówožu, Itázipčho, Oóhenuŋpa)
Southern Lakota (Oglála, Sičháŋǧu)
Brule Sioux
Oglala Sioux
Eastern Dakota (Sisseton or Dakhóta), North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa
Santee (Isáŋyathi: Bdewákhathuŋwaŋ, Waȟpékhute)
Sisseton (Sisíthuŋwaŋ, Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ)
Western Dakota (a.k.a. Yankton-Yanktonai or Dakȟóta or Middle Sioux)
Yankton (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ)
Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna) (a.k.a. Nakoda or Nakota)
Assiniboine (singular:Assiniboin)
Santee Sioux
Stoney
Tamique
Three Affiliated Tribes
Arikara (aka Arikaree or Ree), North Dakota
Hidatsa, North Dakota
Mandan, North Dakota
Tonkawa Oklahoma
Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee, Sarsi, Tsuut’ina)
Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians of North Dakota
Wichita Oklahoma [Affiliated Tribes – Wichita, Waco, Tawakoni, Keechi]
Wyandot Ontario, Michigan
Plains
Aranama
Arapaho Wyoming, Oklahoma
Arikara (aka Arikaree or Ree) North Dakota
Assiniboine Montana Fort Peck Indian Reservation is home to Assiniboine and Lakota (Sioux)
Atsina
Besawunena
Blackfoot Montana/Alberta (bands: Kainah or Blood, Siksiki, Northern Peigan, Piegan or Blackfeet)
Brule
Caddo
Cheyenne Montana, South Dakota; Oklahoma
Chickasaw Oklahoma
Comanche Oklahoma
Crow (Absaroka or Apsáalooke) Montana, South Dakota
Chippewa Cree, Montana
Plains Cree Montana
Dakota
Gros Ventre
Hasinai
Hidatsa North Dakota
Iowa (Ioway) Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma
Karankawa Texas
Kaw (Kansa) Oklahoma
Kiowa Oklahoma
Kitsai
Lakota (Sioux) South Dakota, North Dakota, Nebraska
Lipan Apache
Mandan North Dakota
Missouri tribe (Missouria) Missouri
Nawathinehena
Oglala Sioux
Plains Ojibwe
Omaha Nebraska
Mississaugas
Osage Nation Oklahoma
Otoe ( also spelled Oto) Oklahoma
Ottawa Michigan; Oklahoma
Pawnee (Dialects: South Band, Skiri) Oklahoma
Piegan
Plains Apache (Kiowa-Apache)Oklahoma
Ponca Nebraska, Oklahoma
Quapaw (Arkansas) Arkansas, Oklahoma
Santee Sioux
Sauk (originally Great Lakes now Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa)
Siksika
Sioux (Lakota, Dakota, Nakota) Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota)
Stoney
Tamique
Teton Sioux
Tonkawa Oklahoma
Tsuu T’ina (Sarcee, Sarsi, Tsuut’ina)
Wichita Oklahoma [Affiliated Tribes – Wichita, Waco, Tawakoni, Keechi]
Wyandot Ontario, Michigan
Yankton Sioux
Yanktonai Sioux
Arctic
California
Northeast
Great Basin
Great Plains
NW Coast
Plateau
Southeast
Southwest
Sub Arctic
Origin stories tell of life beginning for the Lakota in a cave that is located in what is now Wind Cave National Park on the southern edge of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The people emerged from the cave to join their relatives the Pte or buffalo, which were to assist the people by sustaining life and providing shelter, clothing and tools.
KNIFE RIVER INDIAN VILLAGES, N.D. – The renowned Mandan-Hidatsa flute player shared his people’s songs and stories as listeners huddled around a glowing fire in the earth-covered lodge.
“A young lady might hear a song similar to this along the river,” explained Keith Bear, as he began to play the flute, pausing midway to sing the words from a courtship song before ending the soulful melody with one last breath.
Today, many are trying to recapture the moment. On Saturday and Sunday, a limited group of 20 people – half from North Dakota, the rest trekking from as far as Idaho, Minnesota, South Dakota, Ohio and Pennsylvania – were allowed to camp one night near the Lower Hidatsa village.
There is but one supreme being of power and wisdom, the Chief Above (Neshanu Natchitak). He rules the world. But he gave Mother Corn authority over all things on earth. Neshanu Natchitak is above all, but he made Mother Corn intermediary with human beings on earth.
According to oral tradition, the Mandan people originated from the earth as corn itself springs from the ground. This emergence metaphor is deeply rooted in Mandan cosmology and the ceremonial practices that shape Mandan social life. Corn has been the mainstay of Mandan agriculture for thousands of years and remains a vital symbol for creation, renewal, and survival.
Tribal Origin: Siouan
Native Name: Nuxbaaga, means ‘original people’
Home Territories: North Dakota
Language: Hidatsa
Alliances: Mandan
Enemies: Lakota
The Hidatsa often intermarried with their Mandan allies.Later, the remnants of the Arikara tribe joined them after a smallpox epidemic nearly wiped them out. Today, they are known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.
The Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan and its Ziibiwing Cultural Society will repatriate the ancestral human remains of dozens of Native Americans next week.
They will repatriate 41 Native American individuals from the American Museum of Natural History in New York City; one Native American individual from the Toledo Zoological Society in Toledo, Ohio; and one Native American individual from the Dearborn Historical Museum in Dearborn.
The Oceti Sakowin, or Great Sioux Nation pressed on in its fight against the Keystone Pipeline this week. In a press release dated April 29, 2015, (see below), the Lower Brule Lakota Sioux Tribe of South Dakota invoked a “Bad Man” clause from the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868 where the U.S. Government agreed to “proceed at once to cause the offender to be arrested and punished according to the laws of the United States.” The accused “offender” in this case: foreign tar sands pipeline company TransCanada.
Invoking the “Bad Man” clause of the treaty means roughly 40% of South Dakota is off limits to TransCanada. This would directly affect the proposed Keystone XL pipeline route and the access to transmission lines.
The people of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation are no strangers to hardship or to the risk of lives being cut short. But a string of seven suicides by adolescents in recent months has shaken this impoverished community and sent school and tribal leaders on an urgent mission to stop the deaths.
On Dec. 12, a 14-year-old boy hanged himself at his home on the reservation, a sprawling expanse of badlands on the South Dakota-Nebraska border. On Christmas Day, a 15-year-old girl was found dead, followed weeks later by a high school cheerleader. Two more young people took their lives in February and two more in March, along with several more attempts.
The drum is not just a musical instrument. To the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people, it holds great cultural and symbolic power. They believe the drum has a life of its own, as well as its own powerful spirit. The drum is the heartbeat of the Indian Nation. It carries the heartbeat of Mother Earth and calls the spirits and nations together.
 Custer’s Last Stand Poster |
Representatives from many Native nations of the Plains will come together today for the 138th anniversary of the Battle of Little Big Horn, where a re-dedication ceremony of the newly completed Indian Memorial will take place.
The horizon line is the circle of life. Mother Earth and Father Sky meet at the horizon line. The hoops used in the Lakota hoop dance represent, among other things, the horizon line, the circle of life.
On Wednesday, residents of the Pine Ridge Reservation are expected to gather at Wounded Knee to protest a planned federal park arrangement that they say will strip them of their deeded land.
The Great Sioux Nation is actually made up of 18 separate tribes, or bands in the US, and 12 in Canada. These are divided into three divisions: the Lakota Sioux, Dakota Sioux, and the Nakota Sioux.
Origin stories tell of life beginning for the Lakota in a cave that is located in what is now Wind Cave National Park on the southern edge of the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The people emerged from the cave to join their relatives the Pte or buffalo, which were to assist the people by sustaining life and providing shelter, clothing and tools.
My people, Hude´shabina (the Red Bottom people), were one of forty bands of Assiniboines who roamed the northern Great Plains from York Factory on Hudson’s Bay, Lake Nipigon, and Lake Superior in the East to the Rocky Mountains of Alberta and Montana in the West.
A person must meet one of the following requirements to be enrolled in the Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of Fort Peck:
A debate over whether to expand the eligibility requirements to enroll as a Blackfeet tribal member is dividing the Blackfeet Nation.
The Blackfeet tribe in 2011 had 16,924 enrolled members, according to tribal enrollment office statistics. But there are about 105,000 people who identified themselves as `Blackfeet Indian’ on the 2010 U.S. Census.
American Horse, who succeeded to the name and position of an uncle who was killed in the battle of Slim Buttes in 1876, was one of the wittiest and shrewdest of the Oglalla Sioux peace chiefs.
Wašíčuŋ Tȟašúŋke or American Horse (1840 – December 16, 1908) was a chieftain of the Oglala Sioux during the Sioux Wars of the 1870s. He was also the nephew of the elder American Horse and son-in-law of Red Cloud. A more literal translation of his Lakota name (Wašíčuŋ Tȟašúŋke) is He-Has-A-White-Man’s-Horse.
When Columbus landed in 1492, the Indigenous Red Nations and Peoples he met were gracious and friendly, as they had always been. Unfortunately, Columbus murdered many of those “Indians” and took many back to Europe as slaves. This historical fact is discarded by US schools and instead the “Hitler-Columbus” is celebrated as some type of “hero” while Indigenous existence, human rights, and nationhood is ignored.
AUTHOR: Gayle Perez From the Black Hills of South Dakota to the plains of Colorado and finally the open fields of Oklahoma, the Southern Cheyenne and Arapaho American tribes have endured many hardships and changes throughout history. This cheyenne arapaho tribe article has moved to our new cheyenne indians section.
Today there are 18 First Nations in Canada and 17 Tribes in the United States who are the descendants of the Ocheti Sakowin. The Ocheti Sakowin speak three main dialects, Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota, that in time have evolved into a number of sub dialects.
Enrollment in the Blackfeet Tribe is governed by Ordinance 14. (This link is a PDF file. You will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader to print and view this file. If you do not have the Adobe Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free here.)
MORTON, Minn. – Gripping a cane tightly, Ernest Wabasha slowly reached to touch a pair of heavy iron shackles hanging from his mantel – the same shackles his great-grandfather, the legendary Chief Wabasha, wore during a forced march across the southwestern Minnesota plains a century ago.
A portrait of Chief Wabasha hung nearby, surrounded by the strong faces of the Wabasha line before and after. The most recent are photos of Ernest and his son, Wabasha No. 6 and No. 7.
KEYWORDS: Chief Wabasha Lower Sioux Indian Community Minnesota Indians american indians Dakota Sioux Mdewakanton Dakota Bluestone Goodthunders Mdewakanton Dakota ancestors Indian Wars Jackpot Junction Indian Casino lower sioux casino Mankato hangings Cans’a yapi meaning of lower sioux traditional name Buffalo Horse Camp Minnesota Indian reservation lost tribal traditions Indian culture AUTHOR: Renee Ruble MORTON, Minn. […]
PINE RIDGE, S.D. – There is only the light of a quarter-moon and a canopy of shooting stars when Lakota voices in Stronghold camp say, “They are coming.”
In the distance, fourteen Lakota horseback riders, some riding bareback, are approaching on the same route that survivors of the massacre of Wounded Knee followed 112 years ago.
In the way of the Crow, storytellers have passed down the traditions and history of the people word by word, from one generation to the next, since the beginnings of the tribe.
Poverty, starvation, and general suffering led to unrest that in 1862 culminated in the U.S.-Dakota Conflict, which launched a series of Indian wars on the northern plains that did not end until the battle of Wounded Knee in 1890, and resulted in the mass hanging of the Dakota 38..