Portal:North Dakota/Article/2007July

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The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and two of its tributaries—the Heart and Knife Rivers—in present-day North and South Dakota. Speakers of Mandan, a Siouan language, the Mandan were in contrast with other tribes in the Great Plains region in the establishment of permanent villages instead of leading a nomadic existence tracking herds of buffalo. These permanent settlements featured round, earthen lodges surrounding a central plaza. While the buffalo were key to the daily life of the Mandan, the buffalo were supplemented by agriculture and trade.

Archaeological research suggests the Mandan people migrated from the Ohio River valley to the banks of the Missouri River. They were first encountered there by Europeans in 1738 and their friendliness and willingness to trade brought many traders and fur trappers to their villages over the next century. By the turn of the 19th century, attacks by neighboring tribes and epidemics of smallpox and whooping cough, significantly diminished the Mandan's population. A major smallpox outbreak in 1837 reduced their numbers to approximately 125.^[1] With such meager numbers, the Mandan banded together with two neighboring tribes, the Arikara and Hidatsa.

Over the next few decades, the three tribes saw their land holdings reduced by various treaties. In an effort to establish good relations, the U.S. government founded the Fort Berthold Agency to care for the combined tribes. The Agency soon set up the Fort Berthold Reservation originally consisting of some 8 million acres (32,000 km²), but by 1910, the size of the reservation was about 900,000 acres (3,600 km²) of land. With the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, the Mandan officially merged with the Hidatsa and the Arikara into the "Three Affiliated Tribes," known as the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation. The last full blooded Mandan died in 1971, with the remaining members of mixed ancestry. About half of the Mandan still reside in the area of the reservation, the rest residing around the United States and in Canada.

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