Sioux

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Member of an American Indian people who inhabit the Great Plains region; the largest group of Plains Indians. Their language belongs to the Siouan family, and they are divided into three groups: Dakota, Nakota, and Lakota. Originally hunter-gatherers living around Lake Superior, Michigan, they were forced into North and South Dakota by the Cree and Chippewa around 1650, and took up a nomadic, buffalo-hunting lifestyle. They developed a warrior culture in which status was achieved by bravery in warfare. With reservations in the Dakotas, and other parts of the USA and Canada, they now number about 108,200 (2000) in the USA and 60,000 in Canada (1991).

Today, many Sioux raise cattle and a large number work as wage-labourers in neighbouring towns. The Sioux language and culture are vigorously maintained although most Sioux are now nominally Christian. Many also follow the Native American Church, which uses the hallucinogenic peyote cactus in traditional sacred medical ritual. In 1973, Dakota Sioux occupied the site of Wounded Knee, which raised the awareness of the American Indian Movement (AIM). Gold, uranium, coal, oil, and natural gas have been found on their reservations. The Dakota pressed for and were awarded US$160 million compensation in 1980.

The Dakota and Nakota languages are closely related in the Siouan linguistic family, and comprise a number of dialects. Dakota contains the Santee, Dakhota, and Santee-Sisseton dialects; and Nakota includes Nakoda, Yankton, and Yankton-Yanktonais. The Lakota language is also known as Lakhota or Teton.

The Sioux gathered wild rice, hunted, and fished on their ancestral lands in Minnesota, but on the Great Plains the buffalo provided most of their material needs. They lived in portable tepees covered in buffalo hides, and wore buffalo-skin clothes. The Sioux believed four powers governed the universe and their main ceremony was the sun dance, performed at the summer solstice. As with many Plains Indians, men acquired status through exhibiting bravery in warfare, scalping their enemies, and stealing their horses. On the Plains they continued to war with the Chippewa, and also came into conflict with the Arikara and Pawnee, but by the 19th century had formed an alliance with the Arapaho and Cheyenne.

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