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The Dakota Indian Tribe is the largest of the Sioux group and once inhabited the Dakota Territory, now reduced to the Dakota Reservation. The US government signed treaties with the tribe, resulting in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. Today, Dakota Indians have several small reservations throughout the Upper Midwest region.
The Native American Dakota Indian Tribe is the largest of the Sioux group of Indian tribes. The Dakota Reservation is land that the US government has set aside for the tribe. In 1700, Dakota Indians inhabited the Dakota Territory, which covered more than 54 million acres (about 218,530 sq km) in parts of Minnesota, Iowa, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. During the late 1700s and early 1800s, settlers drove out the Dakota Indians from most of that land. During the 1850s, the United States government and the various bands of Dakota Nation Indians signed treaties reducing the Dakota Territory to what became the Dakota Reservation.
During the summer of 1851, the United States government signed two major treaties with various bands of the Dakota tribe. In the Treaty of Traverse des Sioux, some of the Dakotas ceded land in southwest Minnesota Territory, Iowa, and South Dakota; and later, in the Treaty of Mendota, two more bands of the Dakota Indian tribe ceded more of their land in southeastern Minnesota. More than 7,000 Dakota Indians have moved to two reservations near the Minnesota River. In 1862, these reservations merged into the Dakota Reservation.
In 1862, the government failed on earlier treaties, causing the Dakota Reservation Indians to rebel, which resulted in the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862. To punish the Indians, the government declared the treaty void and seized the Dakota Reservation. The government also banned nearly all of Minnesota’s Dakota tribe. They only allowed Indians who declared loyalty to the United States government to remain in Minnesota and put a bounty on all other Dakotas.
During the 1850s, French-Canadian traders renamed the Dakota tribe the “Sioux”; and, in the 1800s and 1900s, the US federal government officially referred to the Dakotas, as well as some other Indian tribes, as “Sioux.” This is one reason why non-Indian people today are not familiar with the Dakota tribe.
In the 21st century, Dakota Indians have several small reservations throughout the Upper Midwest region, including Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana. There are also two Dakota reservations located in Canada. There are other reservations, which historians classify as Sioux, but not necessarily Dakota. Most Dakota Indians live on reservations.
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