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 were among the Native people who first made this land their home. European settlement in the area began in1820 with the establishment of Fort Snelling. By 1849, Minnesota became a U.S. territory and on May 11, 1858, Minnesota entered the Union of the United States. The settlers flooded in. The Dakota were being squeezed into smaller areas. Moving from previously prime hunting and fishing grounds to increasing smaller non-productive reservations, harsh winters and low supplies created times that that left many native families hungry and frustrated.
Throughout the 1800’s, treaties were negotiated with the Dakota and the U. S. Government and native lands were exchanged for money, farming supplies and debt payments. These treaties were not in favor of the native population. By the late 1850’s, treaty violations by the United States and late or unfair annuity payments by Indian Agents, those authorized to interact with natives on behalf of the U.S. Government, caused increasing hunger and hardship among the Dakota. Traders
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government broke its promises, some of the Dakota Indians went to war against the white settlers. Many Dakota did not join in, choosing to aid and protect settlers instead. The fighting lasted six weeks and many people on both sides were killed or fled Minnesota. Former Minnesota governor Henry Sibley led an expedition of soldiers and Dakota scouts against the Dakota warriors. The war ended on December 26, 1862, when thirty-eight Dakota Indians were hanged in Mankato in the largest mass execution in U.S. history. Afterwards the government forced most of the remaining Dakota