Sioux

Cultural Conflict: Land, Treaties, and War

Although first contact with Europeans began with the Spanish and the introduction of the horse, followed by positive encounters with French trappers and fur traders, the most significant and negative impact of contact occurred with westward expansion as European Americans sought control [Page 1943]over the vast territory occupied by the Sioux, particularly the Black Hills.

Historically, the Sioux or Great Sioux Nation called itself Oceti Sakowin or Seven Council Fires, which referred to its seven political divisions. According to tribal tradition, the Sioux originated within the Black Hills, emerging from underground through Wind Cave. The Black Hills (called Paha Sapa) hold strong religious significance for the Sioux, particularly the Lakota (designated as the caretakers of the Black Hills), who have a long, protracted history of fighting to retain and reclaim the Black Hills. The entire region is known as the sacred center or heart of everything, and numerous places within the hills are of religious significance (Harney Peak, Devil's Tower, and Bear Butte); the creation of each is recounted in stories, and each is the site of religious practices. Although the Sioux did not reside in the Black Hills, they conducted religious ceremonies at these sites and others, returning throughout the year for worship.

Throughout the mid-1900s, the United States secured Sioux land through a series of treaties. Although the Mendota and Traverse des Sioux treaties of 1851 were not the first signed with the Dakotas, they may well have precipitated the Great Sioux Uprising (U.S.-Dakota War) of 1862. The Lakota and Yankton signed the 1851 Fort Laramie Treaty, which ended intertribal warfare on the plains by establishing territorial boundaries and protected the overland routes to the Pacific coast. This was followed by the 1868 Fort Laramie Treaty, which ended Red Cloud's War, guaranteed the Lakota ownership of the Black Hills, and established the Great Sioux Reservation. It also closed off the Powder River Country from military posts and white settlement.

...