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DAKOTA
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Where did the Dakota Live in Minnesota?
Where did the Dakota Live in Minnesota?
Of all the people who live in modern-day Minnesota, the Dakota have lived here the longest. In fact, the name “Minnesota” comes from a Dakota word, Mni Sota Makoce (mNEE SO-tah mah-KO-chay), which means sky-tinted waters. Dakota history in this place goes back hundreds, some believe thousands of years, to the time when woolly mammoths and giant bison roamed the land.
Before the arrival of the Ojibwe in the 1600s, the Dakota lived in all of Minnesota--from the northwood forests to the rolling plains of southern Minnesota. Once the Ojibwe moved into northern Minnesota, the Dakota were pushed into the south.
tIPI - "a PLACE WHERE ONE LIVES"
tIPI - "a PLACE WHERE ONE LIVES"
Dakota camps consisted of tents called tipis. Each tipi was the lodge, or home, of one family. The word tipi is a Dakota word meaning "place where one lives". Tipis were temporary homes that suited the nomadic lifestyle on the plains. These lightweight, cone-shaped homes could be assembled and moved easily. They were made of long, thin wooden poles and covered with buffalo hides. Covering a small tipi required about twelve hides, and larger ones, as many as fifty! A Dakota camp had both large and small tipis. The size of the tipi depended on the wealth of the family.
nomadic: follow/move with a herd of animals
In the summer months, the bottom of the tipi cover was raised up for ventilation. In the cold winters, it was staked down tightly to the ground to hold in heat, and people packed snow or dirt around the bottom to keep out cold drafts. They also put an extra lining of hides on the inside of the tipi for warmth. The air moved up between the inner and outer layers of hides, helping smoke from the fire escape out the top. Long poles were used to open the flaps at the top of the tipi, allowing smoke to drift out directly above the fire as well. The flaps were closed when it rained.
Setting up Camp
Setting up Camp
Camps were set up in bands, which were made up several Dakota families. The size of the band varied; they had to be large enough to offer protection, yet small enough for hunters to provide enough food.
The camp was set up in a circle with an opening on the east side of the circle. The chief set up his tipi opposite the opening, and the others set up near him in order of importance.
At night buffalo hide "beds" circled the fire. Smoke from the fire drifted out of the opening at the top of the tipi.
Sources
Sources
Kalman, B. (2003). Life in a Plains Camp. St. Catherines: Crabtree Pub.
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