Sioux Tribe

The name “Sioux” is short for “Nadouessioux”, meaning “little snakes”, given to them by their spiteful long time rival the Ojibwa tribe. The Sioux community was divided into a organized nation of seven different, smaller tribes; later becoming known as: Oceti Sakowin, which translates into “Seven Council Fire” in the Sioux indigenous language. To keep their history alive, the Sioux practiced oral tradition in sharing their past, through the Siouan language and occasionally, they communicated through sign language. They were a dominant tribe in Minnesota that later migrated continuously through the northern Great Plains region following buffalo patterns. The Sioux depended on bison for most of their food source, clothing, and shelter. They

Settlers were then being paid by the government to decrease buffalo population in order to expand into the west. As the buffalo population quickly decreased, the Sioux Indians began to decrease as well. The white settlers brought along diseases such as smallpox, measles, and other contagious diseases that eliminated almost half of the Sioux population. The Treaty of Fort Laramie was established in 1851 as a treaty to keep peace between the settlers and tribe. This treaty sequestered the indians to lands in North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and Wyoming. The treaty stated that the indians had to allow travelers into the lands, allow government to establish roads, pay for wrongdoings of their people, and avoid conflict with other tribes, while the US government offered protection from US citizens and annuities if treaty of followed. However, issues with the treaty arose as Indians didn’t have full translation of the terms, an example of the government’s sovereignty ruling over ethics. In 1868, the treaty commision met again to improve the terms of the treaty. The US government established the Great Sioux Reservation where the indians could preside.

More conflict arose because the government didn’t stop coal miners from entering and mining on the sacred and sustainable lands of the indians, disregarding the treaty. Although the government attempted to buy the lands, the Sioux were reluctant in giving sacred lands to greedy miners moving westward. Rather than keeping peace as the treaties were intended to, they caused more conflict amongst the settlers and