Great Sioux Nation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Great Sioux Nation is a general term sometimes applied to the Sioux generally. It is also sometimes applied to a hypothetical state in the western and midwestern United States, which would occupy the following recognized Indian Reservations:
- Oglala (Pine Ridge Indian Reservation)
- Sićangu (Rosebud Indian Reservation)
- Hunkpapa (Standing Rock Indian Reservation/Cheyenne River Indian Reservation)
- Minniconjou (Cheyenne River Indian Reservation)
- Sans Arc (Cheyenne River Indian Reservation)
- Two Kettles (Cheyenne River Indian Reservation)
- Crow Creek Indian Reservation
- Lower Brule Indian Reservation
- Santee Indian Reservation
- Yanktonai (Yankton Sioux Indian Reservation)
- Flandreau Indian Reservation
- Lake Traverse Indian Reservation (Sisseton-Wahpehton)
- Lower Sioux
- Upper Sioux
- Shakopee-Mdewakanton
- Prairie Island
- Standing Rock Indian Reservation
- Spirit Lake Tribe (Formerly Devil's Lake Reservation)
The hypothetical state would also include the defunct Great Sioux reservation and other "unceded Indian territory" in four states, as well as parts the following states:
Therefore, the theoretical Great Sioux Nation occupies only parts of the United States where Sioux tribes have some legal claim with regard to treaties with the Federal government. (See, e.g., Treaty of Fort Laramie and map of treaty land in External Links section, below.) It does not include the traditional Sioux homeland in the Carolinas. It also is heavily tilted in favor of the Lakota people. Only a fraction of land occupied by Dakota and Nakota tribes immediately before white settlement is included, while virtually all Lakota land is included.
Historically, the Great Sioux Nation and the United States have had a turbulent relationship. The last great Indian battles, the Battle of Little Bighorn and the Massacre at Wounded Knee, were fought between these two peoples.
