Before the 17th century, the Santee Dakota (; "Knife" also known as the Eastern Dakota) lived around
Lake Superior with territories in present-day northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. They gathered wild rice, hunted woodland animals and used canoes to fish. Wars with the
Ojibwe throughout the 1700s pushed the Dakota into southern Minnesota, where the Western Dakota (Yankton, Yanktonai) and Teton (Lakota) were residing. In the 1800s, the Dakota signed treaties with the United States, ceding much of their land in Minnesota. Failure of the United States to make treaty payments on time, as well as low food supplies, led to the
Dakota War of 1862, which resulted in the Dakota being exiled from Minnesota to numerous reservations in Nebraska, North and South Dakota and Canada. After 1870, the Dakota people began to return to Minnesota, creating the present-day reservations in the state. The Yankton and Yanktonai Dakota ( and ; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), collectively also referred to by the
endonym , resided in the
Minnesota River area before ceding their land and moving to South Dakota in 1858. Despite ceding their lands, their treaty with the U.S. government allowed them to maintain their traditional role in the Očhéthi Šakówiŋ as the caretakers of the
Pipestone Quarry, which is the cultural center of the Sioux people. They are considered to be the Western Dakota (also called middle Sioux), and have in the past been erroneously classified as
Nakota. The actual Nakota are the
Assiniboine and
Stoney of
Western Canada and
Montana.
Santee (Isáŋyathi or Eastern Dakota) Migrations of
Ojibwe people from the east in the 17th and 18th centuries, who were armed with muskets supplied by the French and British, pushed the Dakota further into Minnesota and west and southward. The US gave the name "
Dakota Territory" to the northern expanse west of the
Mississippi River and up to its headwaters. After the
Dakota War of 1862, the federal government expelled the Santee (who included the
Mdewakanton) from Minnesota. Many were sent to
Crow Creek Indian Reservation east of the Missouri River in what is now South Dakota. In 1864 some from the Crow Creek Reservation were sent to St. Louis and then traveled by boat up the Missouri River, ultimately to the
Santee Sioux Reservation. In the 21st century, the majority of the Santee live on reservations and reserves, and many in small and larger cities in Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Canada. They went to cities for more work opportunities and improved living conditions.
Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ-Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna (Yankton-Yanktonai or Western Dakota) The Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ-Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna, also known by the
anglicized spelling
Yankton (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ: "End village") and Yanktonai (Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna: "Little end village") divisions consist of two bands or two of the seven council fires. According to
Nasunatanka and
Matononpa in 1880, the Yanktonai are divided into two sub-groups known as the Upper Yanktonai and the Lower Yanktonai (Húŋkpathina). Most of the Yankton live on the
Yankton Indian Reservation in southeastern South Dakota. Some Yankton live on the
Lower Brule Indian Reservation and
Crow Creek Reservation, which is also occupied by the Lower Yanktonai. The Upper Yanktonai live in the northern part of the
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation, and on the
Spirit Lake Reservation, in areas within central North Dakota. Others live in the eastern half of the
Fort Peck Indian Reservation in northeastern Montana. In addition, they reside at several Canadian reserves, including
Birdtail,
Oak Lake, and Whitecap (formerly Moose Woods). ==Modern geographic divisions==