The People and The Place
The Dakota People (the Oyate) and the Land called Minnesota
PILOT VERSION -2007
Contemporary archeologists can trace Dakota habitation in this area for several centuries. But Dakota people maintain stories of a much longer history that includes origins here, long sojourns elsewhere and an ancient return to this, the homeland.
In the mid-1800's, another sojourn began: forced exile in the aftermath of the Dakota War of 1862, when the State placed a bounty on the heads of all Dakota people.
Yet even through those dark times, some Dakota people remained here, and in the 20th Century --through the establishment of reservations, the Indian Relocation Act, and an abiding desire for home -- the Dakota population grew.
Dakota people have seen many changes in our homeland over time. Once sovereign in an area that now includes parts of five states and Canada, Dakota people in Minnesota retain sovereignty today in four small federally recognized reservations. The landscape has been altered, the natural resources have been used and abused in widely diverse ways, and Dakota people remain a small percentage of Minnesota's population. But the relationship between the people and Dakota homeland has remained a constant, and Dakota culture offers -- among many other contributions -- a profound understanding of the relationship between people and a specific point on the planet. This is only one important way in which Minnesota is, first and foremost, a Dakota place.
You can view more old maps on this page. More can be found by searching the web.
Click the video to pause or restart
