- Also called:
- Sahnish
- Related Topics:
- Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains
Arikara
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Who are the Arikara people?
The Arikara are a Native American Plains tribe belonging to the Caddoan linguistic family. They are related to the Pawnee, from whom they separated, migrating north to settle along the Missouri River in present-day North and South Dakota.
Traditionally, the Arikara resided in semi-permanent villages composed of earth lodges and practiced agriculture, growing crops like corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco. They traded these crops with other tribes for meat and hides. The Arikara shared the practice of self-sacrifice in the Sun Dance with other Plains tribes.
After a battle with white traders in 1823, the Arikara adopted a nomadic, equestrian lifestyle for some time. Later, in the 1860s, they joined the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, forming the Three Affiliated Tribes, also known as the MHA Nation. Today, the Arikara are federally recognized as part of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation in North Dakota.
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Where did the Arikara traditionally live?
The Arikara, a North American Plains Indian tribe of the Caddoan linguistic family, were culturally related to the Pawnee. Before American colonization, they resided along the Missouri River between the Cannonball and Cheyenne rivers, now part of North and South Dakota.
They traditionally lived in semi-permanent villages comprised of domed earth-berm structures. Their economy was heavily dependent on agriculture, including corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco. Arikara women managed farming, food preparation, clothing production, lodge construction, and related rituals, while men were responsible for hunting, defense, and associated rituals.
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What kind of homes did the Arikara people build?
The Arikara people traditionally resided in villages of semipermanent earth lodges, which are domed, earth-berm structures. These substantial homes were built by Arikara women, who were also responsible for farming, food preparation, clothing production, and the rituals associated with their work. The earth lodges averaged 40 to 60 feet in diameter and generally housed three-generation families. The placement of an earth lodge within a village varied from one tribe to the next and often was determined by the eldest male resident.
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How did the Arikara get their food and what did they eat?
The Arikara, North American Plains Indians, had an economy that relied heavily on agriculture, raising corn, beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco. Arikara households used these products and traded them with other tribes for meat and processed hides. Arikara women were responsible for farming, food preparation and preservation, clothing production, and lodge building. Arikara men hunted deer, elk, and buffalo, provided defense, and performed rituals related to these practices.
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What was the structure of Arikara society and leadership?
Arikara society was structured around semi-permanent villages of earth lodges. Their economy depended on agriculture and trade with other tribes.
Arikara society's most important aspects were the sacred bundles, which served as connections to the divine. Bundle-keepers, from leading families, held hereditary positions. Lower leadership roles were associated with military, dancing, and curing societies. The Arikara shared the practice of self-sacrifice in the Sun Dance with other Plains tribes.
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How have the Arikara people influenced or interacted with other Native American tribes and settlers?
The Arikara people, originally related to the Pawnee, established themselves as a distinct group along the Missouri River. They were agricultural, trading corn and other crops with other tribes for meat and hides.
The Arikara faced conflict with white traders, notably in an 1823 battle with the Rocky Mountain Fur Company, which led to a U.S. Army campaign against them. By the 1860s, war and disease had significantly decreased their population, prompting them to join the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. Together, they formed the Three Affiliated Tribes, also known as the MHA Nation, and settled on a reservation at Fort Berthold, North Dakota.
Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Arikara, North American Plains Indians of the Caddoan linguistic family. The cultural roots of Caddoan-speaking peoples lay in the prehistoric mound-building societies of the lower Mississippi River valley. The Arikara were culturally related to the Pawnee, from whom they broke away and moved gradually northward, becoming the northernmost Caddoan tribe. Before American colonization of the Plains, the Arikara lived along the Missouri River between the Cannonball and Cheyenne rivers in what are now North Dakota and South Dakota.
The Arikara traditionally lived in substantial semipermanent villages of earth lodges, domed earth-berm structures. Their economy relied heavily upon raising corn (maize), beans, squash, sunflowers, and tobacco; Arikara households used these products and traded them with other tribes for meat and processed hides. Arikara women were responsible for farming, food preparation and preservation, clothing production, lodge building, and the rituals associated with their work; Arikara men hunted deer, elk, and buffalo, provided defense, and performed rituals related to these practices.
The most important items in Arikara material culture were the sacred bundles. These collections of objects were treated as living connections to the divine, and many village activities were organized around the perceived needs of the bundles and the sacred beings who communicated through them. Each bundle had a bundle-keeper, an office that tended to be the hereditary prerogative of a few leading families. Lower leadership positions were associated with organized military, dancing, and curing societies. The Arikara shared with other Plains tribes the practice of self-sacrifice in the Sun Dance.
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The Arikara were seen as an obstacle by white trading parties moving up the Missouri River; in 1823 a battle with traders under the aegis of William H. Ashley’s Rocky Mountain Fur Company resulted in the first U.S. Army campaign against a Plains tribe. In response, the Arikara left their villages and adopted a nomadic equestrian lifestyle for a period of years.
Although the Arikara had numbered between 3,000 and 4,000 individuals near the end of the 1700s, wars and epidemic disease had severely reduced their population by the middle of the 19th century. In the 1860s they joined the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes. These tribes coalesced, becoming known as the Three Affiliated Tribes (or MHA Nation), and a reservation was created for them at Fort Berthold, North Dakota. By 1885 the Arikara had taken up farming and livestock production on family farmsteads dispersed along the rich Missouri River bottomlands.
In the 1950s, construction of the Garrison Dam flooded the Missouri River bottomlands, creating Lake Sakakawea. More than one-fourth of the Fort Berthold reservation lands were permanently flooded by the rising waters. This and the discovery of oil in the Williston Basin forced another removal, this time to new homes on the arid North Dakota uplands, where farming was difficult. As a result, reservation communities suffered an economic depression. However, by the end of the 20th century, the Three Affiliated Tribes had regained a level of prosperity through buffalo ranching and other tribal businesses.
Early 21st-century population estimates indicated more than 1,000 individuals of Arikara descent.
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