Mdewakanton


Mdewakantonwan are one of the sub-tribes of the Isanti Dakota. Their historic home is Mille Lacs Lake in central Minnesota, which in the Dakota language was called Mde wakan. Together with the Wahpekute, they form the so-called Upper Council of the Dakota or Santee Sioux.

History

Their Siouan-speaking ancestors may have migrated to the upper Midwest from further south and east. Over the years they migrated up through present-day Ohio and into Wisconsin. Facing competition from the Ojibwe and other Great Lakes Native American tribes, the Santee moved further west into present-day Minnesota.
In 1687 Greysolon du Lhut recorded his visit to the "great village of the Nadouecioux, called Izatys" on the southwestern shore of the eponymous Mde Wakan , now called Mille Lacs Lake in north central Minnesota.
Originally the term Santee was applied only to the Mdewakanton and later the closely related and allied Wahpekute.. Soon European settlers applied the name to all the tribes of the Eastern Dakota.
In the fall of 1837, the Mdewakantonwan negotiated a lucrative deal with the US government under an "Indian Removal" treaty, whereby they were paid nearly one million dollars for the remainder of their lands in western Wisconsin. Because the Mdewakantonwan had earlier abandoned the lands due to intrusion by the Chippewa and various ecological reasons, and were effectively living in Minnesota, they effectively gained payment for land they no longer occupied.
Seven Sioux tribes formed an alliance, which they called Oceti Sakowin or Očhéthi Šakówiŋ, consisting of the four tribes of the Eastern Dakota, two tribes of the Western Dakota, as well as the largest group, the Lakota. Tradition has it that the Mdewakanton were the leading tribe of Očhéthi Šakówiŋ. As a consequence of their defeat by the United States in the Dakota War of 1862 and heavy losses in warriors, they lost their leading position within the Council Fires to the more numerous and powerful Lakota.

US tribes with Mdewakanton descendants

The Mdewakantonwan are no longer a single unified Tribe. Their descendants ensure their Mdewakanton components survive within their respective communities. In the United States, the Mdewakanton survive with other federally recognized Dakota and Yankton-Yanktonai bands as Dakota peoples:

South Dakota

Some Mdewakanton in Minnesota live among Ojibwe people on the Mille Lacs Reservation as Mille Lacs Band of Mdewakanton Dakota, forming one of the historical bands that were amalgamated to become the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe.

Nebraska

In Canada, the Mdewakanton live with members of other Dakota and Yanktonai band governments as Dakota peoples:

Manitoba

Some may live also within the White Bear First Nations, which consists mostly of members of the Plains Cree, Western Saulteaux and Assiniboine.

Historic tribes of the Mdewakanton

Only the Kiyuska, Pinisha, Reyata otonwe/Reyata Otonwa and real Matantonwan bands survive as organized groups today.