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The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sahnish
live in the I Missouri River area. Historians document the first
tribe, to occupy this area was the Mandan with the Hidatsa,
and the Sahnish moving up the river later. The Mandan and Hidatsa
people were originally woodland people who moved to the plains
at various times. One theory is the Mandan moved from the area
of southern Minnesota and northern Iowa to the plains in South
Dakota about 900 A.D., and slowly migrated north along the Missouri
River to North Dakota about 1000 A.D. The Hidatsa moved from
central Minnesota to the eastern part of North Dakota near Devils
Lake, and moved to join the Mandan at the Missouri River
about 1600 A.D. The Mandan and Hidatsa believe they were, created
in this area and have always lived here. According to anthropologists,
the Sahnish people lived in an area that extended from the Gulf
of Mexico, across Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota. Dates of migrations
all Three Tribes have been, determined by archeological investigation
of village sites constructed along the Missouri and elsewhere.
Many of these sites, although collapsed and abandoned long before,
were excavated along the Missouri River during the 1950’s
and 1960’s. In the 1995 the North Dakota Historical Society
completed the Missouri Trench National Historical Landmark Theme
Study, that summarized the archeological investigation of the
Missouri River area from southern South Dakota through North
Dakota to Montana. Many of the sites were of Mandan, Hidatsa,
and Sahnish origins. Ethnographers (people who study cultural
societies) group people by the languages they used or were likely
to be used by a single group at one time. Indian nations were
divided into several linguistic groups. The Mandan and Hidatsa
tribes belong to the Siouan linguistic group, along with the
Crow, Dakota, Lakota, Yanktonai, Assiniboine, Iowa-Oto- Missouri,
Quapaw, Omaha-Ponca-Osage-Kansa. The Sahnish belong to the Caddoan
linguistic group, along with the Pawnee, Caddo, Wichita, Anadarko,
Skidi, Tawakoni and Waco. This guide links the oral and written
histories of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Sahnish to provide a more
accurate viewpoint. The oral tradition preserved the history
and ceremonies of the Tribes through a strict and sacred process,
thereby adding to the validity of oral tradition.
Please click
here to go back to the History Section.
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Phone: 701-627-3503
Three Affiliated Tribes, 404 Frontage Road, New Town, North Dakota,
58763
Copyright ® 2004-2006 Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation.
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