Dakota Reservation Summary

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Ray Owen, of Prairie Island Indian Community, 2010 Mni Sota, states that according to the oral histories of many of those who live in Minnesota, these areas have been Dakota homeland for thousands of years. "Even today, you live in the United States of Dakota. All of this is Dakota Territory." (1)

Mni Sota, micoke – Dakota translation as ‘home of the cloud tinted waters’, Minnesota - known by North Americans as the ‘Land of 10,000 Lakes’, lies at the northern end of the Mississippi River and the westernmost point of the inland waterway that extends through the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. The Ojibwe and the Dakota of the First Nation Peoples were those that made these lands their home. European settlement …show more content…

Native groups often took land and materials from weaker groups whenever it suited them. They understood the concept of ownership by conquest. From the time the first settlers landed on Turtle Island [America], the Natives were pushed from their home. In 1783, George Washington wrote a letter to James Duane, outlining principles of the Indian Policy of the Continental Congress. Washington outlined ‘an enlightened People’ would consider the Native to be deluded and that “as the country is large enough to contain us all; and as we are disposed to be kind to them and to partake in their trade…we will draw a veil over what is past and establish a boundary line between them and us beyond which we will endeavor to restrain our People from Hunting or Settling” (4). This sentiment is reinstated over and over throughout treaties made with the Dakota of …show more content…

The Dakota agreed to sell their territory for cash and annuities. This treaty was instigated by the first governor of the territory, Alexander Ramsey, and Luke Lea, Commissioner of Indian Affairs in Washington, D.C. The United States wanted the agreement with the Natives to gain control of agricultural lands for more settlers. In this Treaty, the Dakota ceded nearly 24,000,000 acres of land in south and west Minnesota, along with some land in Iowa and the Dakota Territory. Many Natives agreed to this to ensure the continuation of their livelihood, given the outcome of previous treaties with the United