Our Place in the Sun:
The Northern Great Plains

Native Nations of the Great Northern Plains

by Rudy Scott Nelson



ARAPAHO. Aka Northern Arapaho. Located in the area of the Platte River in Wyoming. The Southern branch was covered in the article on the Southern Plains tribes. Close allies of the Northern Cheyenne and later the Lakota. Main enemy was the Shoshoni of the Plateau region.

ARIKARA. Located along the border of North and South Dakota. Related to the Pawnee and spoke a Caddoan language. A traditional enemy of the Lakota. Culture was based on crop production rather than buffalo hunting. Allies of the Hidatsa and later the Mandan. Fought the Hidatsa and Mandan before allying with them..

ASSINIBOIN. Located in the area where the states of Montana and North Dakota meet the Canadian border. Aka Stoney. Allies of the Blackfeet.

ATSINA. Aka Mountain Gros Ventre. A splinter group of the Arapahoes. NOT related to the River Gros Ventre. Often fought the Shoshone (Snake) tribes of Idaho.

BLACKFEET. Located in the area where Montana meets the Canadian border. Spoke Algonkian. It was a confederation of three related tribes known as the Blood, Siksika and Peigan. Often fought the Shoshone (Snake) tribes of Idaho and the Crow. Contained several warrior societies.

CHEYENNE. Located in the area of Wyoming, Colorado and western Nebraska. They were divided into the northern and southern branches. The southern branch became associated with the Comanche after 1840. The northern branch was allied with the Lakota especially against the Americans.

CHIPPEWA. Located in the area where the modern state of Minnesota meets the Canadian border. AKA Southern Ojibwa. Spoke Alogonkin.

CREE. Located in the Alberta and Saskatchewan Canada. Spoke Algonkian. Migrated from the east where they had a woodland culture. Many tribes continued to have the woodland culture while others adopted the plains culture. Fought the Assibone, Blackfeet, Sarsi and Mountain Gros Ventre.

CROW. Located in the area where the modern states of Montana, Wyoming and the Dakotas meet. Aka Mountain Hidatsa. Related to the River Hidatsa. They were the traditional enemies of the Lakota. They fought the Nez Perce, Arapaho, Blackfeet, Commanche and Cheyenne. Many became US Army scouts in order to fight the Lakota. Spoke a Siouan language.

DAKOTA. See Lakota.

FOX. Located in the area of southern Iowa, later moved to Oklahoma.Aka Mountain Gros Ventre.

HIDATSA. . Located in the general area where the modern state of North Dakota meets Canada. Culture was based on crop production rather than buffalo hunting. Aka River Hidatsa. Related to the Crow. Spoke a Siouan language. Allies of the Mandan and later the Arikara. Fought the Lakota and early battles with the Arikara.

IOWA. Located in the area of NE Iowa but migrated further west. Spoke Siouan. Fought the Missouri, Sauk, Fox, Osage and Kansa tribes

LAKOTA. Located in the area of Dakotas, Minnesota, Wyoming, northern Nebraska, northern Iowa, and southern Canada. Originally located east of Lake Superior but migrated west in the 1600s. A vast collection of Siouan speaking tribes. They were considered the dominant nation of the Great Northern Plains. Early pre-1700 history involved conflicts with many tribes located east of the Mississippi River including the Winnabego of Wisonsin, Illini of Illinois and various Iroquian tribes of the Eastern Great Lakes. Early pre-1600 splinter groups are considered to have migrated all the way to the Atlantic coast in the Carolinas. The main Lakota divisions are the Teton, Santee and Yankton.

MANDAN. Located in the area of northern North Dakota. Culture was based on crop production rather than buffalo hunting. Allies of the Hidatsa and later the Arikara. Fought the Lakota and early battles with the Arikara. Spoke a Siouan language.

OJIBWAY. Located in the area where the modern state of North Dakota meets Canada and stretched eastern to the St Lawrence Seaway. Most of the tribes remained in Canadian territory. An Alogonkin speaking nation

OMAHA. . Located in the area of eastern Nebraska. Fought the Lakota

OSAGE. . Located in the area of Missouri and SE Kansas. Fought many of their neighbors in the Missisippi and Missouri River valleys. One of the tribes located west of the Mississippi to obtain firearms.

OTOE. Spoke Siouan. Fought the Missouri, Sauk, Fox, Osage and Kansa tribes.

PAWNEE. . Located in the general area where the modern state of Nebraska meets Kansas. Spoke Caddoan. They were bitter rivals of the Lakota. Many became US Army scouts in order to continue to fight the Lakota.

PONCA. Located in Nebraska. Related to the Omaha. Fought the Lakota.

SARSI. Aka Sarcee. Located in Alberta Canada. Fought the Assibones and the Cree. Often allies of the Blackfeet. A small tribe with about 200 warriors in 1800.

SAUK. . Located in the general area of southern Iowa, later moved to eastern Oklahoma.

SIOUX. See Lakota. A term that means adder or snake. Applied to the Lakota by their Chippewa enemies as told to the French traders.

Our Place in the Sun The Northern Great Plains

More Our Place in the Sun Issues' Table of Contents

Back to Time Portal Passages Winter 2004 Table of Contents
Back to Time Portal Passages List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 2004 by Rudy Scott Nelson
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com