The Sioux are groups of Native American tribes & First Nations peoples in North America. The term can refer to any ethnic group within the Great Sioux Nation or to any of the nation's many language dialects. The name "Sioux" was adopted in English by the 1760s from French. It is abbreviated from Nadouessioux, first attested by Jean Nicolet in 1640.
The Santee, also known as the Eastern Sioux, were Dakota speakers & comprised the Mdewkanton, Wahpeton, Wahpekute, & Sisseton. The Yankton, who spoke Nakota, included the Yankton & Yanktonai. The Teton, also referred to as the Western Sioux, spoke Lakota & had seven divisions—the Sihasapa, or Blackfoot; Brulé (Upper & Lower); Hunkpapa; Miniconjou; Oglala; Sans Arcs; & Oohenonpa, or Two-Kettle. Before the middle of the 17C, the Santee Sioux lived in the area around Lake Superior, where they gathered wild rice & other foods, hunted deer & buffalo, & speared fish from canoes. Prolonged & continual warfare with the Ojibwa to their east drove the Santee into what is now southern & western Minnesota, at that time the territory of the agricultural Teton & Yankton. In turn, the Santee forced these two groups from Minnesota into what are now North & South Dakota. Horses were becoming common on the Plains during this period, & the Teton & Yankton abandoned agriculture in favour of an economy centred on the nomadic hunting of bison.
The Teton & Yankton shared many cultural characteristics with other nomadic Plains Indian societies. They lived in tepees, wore clothing made from leather, suede, or fur, & traded buffalo products for corn (maize) produced by the farming tribes of the Plains. The Sioux also raided those tribes frequently, particularly the Mandan, Arikara, Hidatsa, & Pawnee, actions that eventually drove the agriculturists to ally themselves with the U.S. military against the Sioux tribes.
Sioux men acquired status by performing brave deeds in warfare; horses & scalps obtained in a raid were evidence of valour. Sioux women were skilled at porcupine-quill & bead embroidery, favouring geometric designs; they also produced prodigious numbers of processed bison hides during the 19C, when the trade value of these “buffalo robes” increased dramatically. Community policing was performed by men’s military societies, the most significant duty of which was to oversee the buffalo hunt. Women’s societies generally focused on fertility, healing, & the overall well-being of the group. Other societies focused on ritual dance & shamanism.
Religion was an integral part of all aspects of Sioux life. The Sioux recognized 4 powers as presiding over the universe, & each power in turn was divided into hierarchies of 4. The buffalo had a prominent place in all Sioux rituals. Among the Teton & Santee the bear was also a symbolically important animal; bear power obtained in a vision was regarded as curative, & some groups enacted a ceremonial bear hunt to protect warriors before their departure on a raid.
