Tribes of the Northern Plains

The Northern Plains region of the American west was home to several different Indian tribes. Taken as a whole, these tribes make up a part of the culture group known as "Plains Tribes." However, though each may share certain cultural similarities they should not be thought of as "one people." The various tribes were each as different as they were similar. Even closely related and/or allied tribes often had vastly different languages and tribal customs.

Assiniboine    Crow    Blackfeet    Plains Cree    Plains Chippewa    Mandan    Hidatsa    Arikara    Sioux
Map of Tribal Territories

Assiniboine
One of the most important of tribes were the Assiniboine (pronounced Uh-sin-uh-boin). In fact, they were so important to the American Fur Company that Fort Union Trading Post was built specifically for them at their request. The land that Fort Union sat on was Assiniboine territory and the Assiniboine people looked on Fort Union with protective eyes, helping keep it safe from the occasional hostilities that would erupt with other groups.

The Assiniboine people are a Siouan-speaking people. That means their language is related to the language of the Sioux. It is widely held that the Assiniboine are a splinter group of the Yankton Sioux that split off sometime in the mid-1600s. Even though they spoke a language similar to the Sioux, and were closely related to them, the Assiniboine and Sioux were bitter enemies. The Assiniboine were allied with and culturally similar to the Plains Cree and Plains Chippewa, whom they often traveled and camped with.

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Crow
The Crow Indians were probably the second most common and important tribe for the American Fur Company. The Crows home was up the Yellowstone River and the south bank of the Missouri was considered the northern limit of their hunting grounds. Bands of Crow people were often found at Fort Union awaiting their turn to trade their buffalo robes, which were in high demand amongst the traders as Crow women were widely held to be the best tanners of prime winter buffalo cow hides. Crow bands could also be found visiting their Hidatsa relatives at the Hidatsa villages on a regular basis, trading with the Hidatsas and Mandans and with the traders at Fort Clark.

The Crow are also a Siouan-speaking people, but their language is not mutually intelligible with the Sioux language. The Crow are widely held to be a splinter group of the Hidatsa, a riverine tribe covered below. The Crow and the Hidatsa were close allies and were culturally and linguistically similar.

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Blackfeet
The Blackfeet are often thought of as one tribe however they actually consist of three closely allied and related tribes, the Piegan, the Blood, and the Blackfoot. For many years the Blackfeet traded almost exclusively with the Hudson's Bay Company of Canada, discouraging (often violently) attempts by American traders and trappers to enter their territory. However, after the construction of Fort Union Trading Post Kenneth McKenzie made it one of his goals to win over the Blackfeet Indian trade to the American side. To effect this he sent Jaques Berger, a company employee who had lived among the Blackfeet, to bring them to Fort Union. Berger was successful and the Blackfeet began trading with the American Fur Company at Fort Union. Soon, the Company would build Fort McKenzie, and later Fort Benton, closer to Blackfeet territory. Even so, bands of Blackfeet would still occasionally show up at Fort Union to trade and visit with their friends.

The Blackfeet speak an Algonkian language and share some cultural similarities with other Algonkian tribes. For a time they were allied with the Atsina (Gros Ventre), a splinter group of the Arapaho Indians. They were also allied with the small Sarsi tribe of north-central Alberta, Canada.

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Plains Cree
Like the Blackfeet, the Plains Cree are a Algonkian speaking people. However their language and culture are very dissimilar to that of the Blackfeet. At one time the Cree people, one of the largest culture groups in North America, all dwelled in the forests of Eastern Canada and the United States. During the 1700s bands of the Cree began following the British and French fur traders westward onto the plains. These bands became known as the Plains Cree and adopted the general Plains culture of buffalo hunting and tipi dwelling.

Plains Cree and their close allies, the Plains Chippewa, were often found trading at the Mandan and Hidatsa villages and at the American Fur Company's Fort Union, especially in the company of their other close ally, the Assiniboine.

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Plains Chippewa (Ojibwa)
The Plains Chippewa are, like their allies the Plains Cree, an Algonkian speaking people. Also like the Cree, the Chippewa were one of the largest tribal groups in North America. At one time they controlled most of the land around the Great Lakes, but war with other tribes and European settlers gradually forced them westward. By the 1700s many bands of Chippewa had entered modern day North Dakota and Saskatchewan, adopting the Plains lifestyle as they did so.

The Plains Chippewa (also known as the Ojibwa) frequently traveled with their allies, the Plains Cree and Assiniboine, and were thus often found trading at the Mandan and Hidatsa villages and at various American Fur Company trading posts.

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Mandan
Most likely the first "modern" Indian tribe to inhabit the modern-day state of North Dakota, the Mandan are a Siouan speaking people that arrived in the area in the 1400s or 1500s. The Mandan were an earthlodge dwelling people, living in semi-permanent villages and towns along the Missouri River and primarily using hide tipis only when hunting buffalo or otherwise traveling. The Mandan were an agricultural people, growing large gardens of corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. The American Fur Company would build Fort Clark, named in honor of William Clark, near the Knife River villages for the Mandan buffalo robe trade.

The Mandan were well known to fur traders by the time Lewis and Clark arrived at their villages in 1804. The Mandan provided Lewis and Clark with important information about the Missouri River further upstream and allowed them to build a small fort for a winter camp near the villages, which the Captains named Fort Mandan in honor of their new friends.

For more detailed information on the Mandan see the Knife River People page.

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Hidatsa
Also a Siouan speaking folk, the Hidatsa (the group from which the Crow split) moved westward into the Upper Missouri Region in the 1600s, following the Mandan and arriving prior to the fur traders The Mandan and Hidatsa were closely allied, often living in the same villages. However, their languages were very different and they shared only the superficial "Plains" culture traits.

The Hidatsa also provided some information to the Lewis and Clark Expedition, but were not as openly warm as the Mandan were. While the Hidatsa and Mandan could often be found at Fort Union, the American Fur Company would eventually build Fort Clark, and later Fort Berthold, for their trade. In the late 1800s a band of Hidatsa led by Crow Flies High, tired of the depredations of their enemy the Sioux, moved their village to the location of the old Fort Union garden in order to be closer to United States Army protection at Fort Buford. This group would eventually be moved back to the reservation by the US Government.

For more detailed information on the Hidatsa see the Knife River People page.

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Arikara
The Arikara are a riverine, semi-sedentary tribe like the Mandans and Hidatsas, however they are a splinter group of the Pawnee and speak a Caddoan language. They were living along the Missouri River in modern-day South Dakota by the late 1700s and were enemies of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and some fur traders. After the United States Army attacked their main villages in retaliation for an Arikara attack on William H. Ashley's fur trade expedition the Arikara temporarily adopted the nomadic Plains lifestyle. Eventually they tired of wandering and by the mid-1800s were again living in villages along the Missouri.

Following the 1837 smallpox epidemic, which was particularly devastating to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, the Arikara allied and then moved in with their former enemies, the Mandan and Hidatsa. Today, these three tribes are known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.

For more detailed information on the Arikara see the Knife River People page.

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Sioux
Perhaps the largest overall tribal group in North America, and, thanks to Hollywood, most likely the most well-known, the Sioux are made up of three large tribes that share a common language (with only slight dialect differences) and culture. The three divisions are the Dakota, the Nakota, and the Lakota (named here for their dialects). The Dakota, or Eastern Sioux, are made up of four bands, the Mdewakantonwan, the Wahpekute, the Sisseton, and the Wahpeton. These bands primarily dwelled in modern-day western Minnesota and eastern North and South Dakota, though some bands would venture further west onto the Plains following the 1867 Minnesota River War. The Nakota, or Middle Sioux, consisted of the Yankton and Yanktonai, and dwelt in modern-day central North Dakota and north-central South Dakota. The Lakota, or Western Sioux (also known as the Teton Sioux), were the largest Sioux tribal group, made up of seven bands. These seven consisted of the Oglala, Brule, Hunkpapa, Minneconjou, Sans Arcs, Blackfeet (not to be confused with the Blackfeet tribe, above), and Two Kettle. The Lakota inhabited a vast area from the Missouri River west to the Bighorn Mountains and from the Platte River north into the extreme southern parts of the Canadian Plains.

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This map shows the location of the tribal territories for some of the tribes mentioned above.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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