The Treaty of Fort Laramie formed the Great Sioux Reservation in 1868, but it was broken up into five smaller reservations in 1889. The Sioux struggled to keep their lands, including the Black Hills, which were removed from their reservation. Today, there are seven Sioux reservations in South Dakota and others in neighboring states and Canada. The reservations face socioeconomic and public health problems, but the Sioux continue to work to improve living conditions and local economies.
The Treaty of Fort Laramie, an 1868 agreement between the United States and the Sioux, formed the Great Sioux Reservation, which included 60 million acres in the western half of South Dakota west of the Missouri River. It included hunting territories in unceded sections north, west, and south of the Great Sioux Reservation. These areas include parts of present-day North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska. Most of this land is currently in the possession of the United States after being broken up into five smaller reservations in 1889. Various sections of the resulting reservations were abandoned or seized for construction of reservoirs but not returned to the Sioux.
The establishment of the Great Sioux Reservation was necessary as the United States continually encroached on Sioux lands as settlers moved west and new trails were established. After the 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie, the Sioux struggled to keep the lands they had been given. Once settlers discovered gold in the Black Hills, the US government tried to get the Sioux to lease or sell the hills to them. The Sioux refused, saying the Black Hills were sacred to them as a traditional birthplace. Eventually, General George Custer and the 7th Cavalry fought the Sioux at the Battle of the Little Big Horn in 1876.
The Sioux were victorious in that battle, but the United States was outraged and escalated hostilities against the Sioux, resulting in the surrender of all but a few of the Sioux chiefs. The United States forced the Sioux back to their reservations. Border lines were redrawn and the Black Hills were removed from Sioux reservation lands. In 1889, the Big Sioux Reservation was dissolved and divided into five smaller reservations: Standing Rock, Cheyenne River, Pine Ridge, Rosebud, and Lower Brule.
There are now seven Sioux reservations in South Dakota: Cheyenne River, Crow Creek, Lower Brule, Rosebud, Sisseton, Yankton and Pine Ridge. Other Sioux reservations are found in Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. In Canada, where tribal communities are known as First Nations, there are Sioux First Nation reservations in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
US reservations are managed by tribal governments, supported by the US Bureau of Indian Affairs. Sioux reservations face socioeconomic and public health problems, including extremely high rates of unemployment, poverty, alcoholism, and obesity. Only about half of registered Sioux live on reservations, where they continue to work to improve living conditions and local economies.
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