- Hidatsa:
- “People of the Willow”
- Also called:
- Minitari or Gros Ventres of the River (or of the Missouri)
- Related Topics:
- Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains
Hidatsa
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Who are the Hidatsa people?
The Hidatsa are a North American Plains Indian tribe who once resided in semi-permanent villages along the upper Missouri River in what is now North Dakota. Their language is part of the Siouan language family.
Until the late 19th century, the Hidatsa were semi-sedentary, living in earth lodges and cultivating corn, beans, squash, and tobacco. Women handled food crops, while men grew and traded tobacco, hunted bison, and engaged in warfare. Social organization revolved around clan lineages, age sets, and military and religious societies.
In the 18th century, the Hidatsa, along with the Mandan, played a key role in the northern Plains trading network. After the smallpox epidemic of 1837, the Hidatsa and Mandan joined forces, and were later joined by the Arikara. Since 1868, these tribes, known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, have lived on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. Early 21st-century estimates suggest around 1,500 people of Hidatsa descent.
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Where did the Hidatsa traditionally live?
The Hidatsa Native American tribe traditionally resided in semi-permanent villages along the upper Missouri River, specifically between the Heart and Little Missouri rivers in present-day North Dakota. They are closely related to the Crow, with whom they were once united. The Hidatsa are also associated with the Mandan and Arikara tribes, together known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, who now reside on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.
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What language do the Hidatsa speak?
The Hidatsa speak a Siouan language. This language is closely related to that of the Crow, with whom they were once united. The Hidatsa are part of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation in North Dakota, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.
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What was traditional Hidatsa life like, including housing and food?
The Hidatsa were a semisedentary people who, until the reservation period in the late 19th century, resided in dome-shaped earth-berm lodges in villages on the upper Missouri River.
Hidatsa women cultivated crops like corn, beans, squash, and tobacco, while men grew and traded tobacco and hunted bison and other large game.
Traditional Hidatsa society revolved around clan lineages, age sets, and military and religious societies. The Sun Dance was their major religious ritual. The Hidatsa maintained close trading and intermarriage ties with the Crow and had a long peaceful association with the Mandan.
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Who are the Three Affiliated Tribes, and how are the Hidatsa connected to them?
The Three Affiliated Tribes, also known as the MHA Nation, consist of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara. These tribes share a reservation at Fort Berthold, North Dakota.
The Hidatsa are connected to the Three Affiliated Tribes through a history of coalescing with the Mandan and Arikara. After the Mandan suffered devastating losses from disease, they merged with the Hidatsa. Later, the Arikara joined them, leading to the formation of the Three Affiliated Tribes by the late 19th century. Despite this merging, each tribe has maintained its distinct ethnic identity.
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How have the Hidatsa preserved their culture and traditions today?
The Hidatsa, as one of the Three Affiliated Tribes, also known as the MHA Nation, have been preserving their culture alongside the Mandan and Arikara since 1868 on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.
Despite losing a quarter of their reservation in the mid-20th century due to the Garrison Dam, which deeply impacted their economy, the Three Affiliated Tribes have established buffalo ranching and a casino to restore prosperity to their communities.
Traditional Hidatsa culture includes clan lineages, age sets, military societies, and religious societies. The Sun Dance was their major religious ritual. Praise and reward were emphasized in raising children, with maternal uncles playing a key role in guiding and mentoring nephews. Today, the early 21st-century population estimates indicated around 1,500 individuals of Hidatsa descent.
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Hidatsa, North American Indians of the Plains who once lived in semipermanent villages on the upper Missouri River between the Heart and the Little Missouri rivers in what is now North Dakota. The Hidatsa language is a member of the Siouan language family.
Until the reservation period began in the late 19th century and limited the tribe’s access to its traditional territory, the Hidatsa were a semisedentary people who lived in dome-shaped earth-berm lodges; they raised corn (maize), beans, squash, and tobacco and made pottery. Hidatsa women raised all the food crops, while tobacco was grown and traded by men. Men also hunted bison and other large game and engaged in warfare.
Traditional Hidatsa social organization was structured around clan lineages, age sets, and other groups, including several military societies for men and a variety of men’s and women’s religious societies. Descent was traced through the maternal line. As with other Plains Indians, the Sun Dance was the major religious ritual, involving long preparation, sacred vows, prayer, and self-sacrifice.
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The Hidatsa language is most closely related to that of the Crow, with whom they were once united; after a dispute over the division of a buffalo carcass sometime between the late 17th and the early 18th centuries, the Crow chose to leave village life and become nomadic equestrians. The two tribes maintained close trading relations and frequently intermarried. In other areas of culture, the Hidatsa and the Mandan most closely resemble each other, a result of more than 400 years of continuous and peaceful association.
In the latter part of the 18th century, there were more than 2,000 Hidatsa who, with the Mandan, occupied a central position in the extensive trading network on the northern Plains. Horses, dressed hides, and buffalo robes, obtained from the nomadic tribes to the west, were exchanged with European traders to the east for guns, knives, and other manufactured goods.
In 1837 a smallpox epidemic so severely reduced Hidatsa and Mandan numbers that the two tribes consolidated into one village in order to mount an effective defense against their traditional enemy, the Sioux. Continual harassment by the Sioux and other enemies caused the Hidatsa and Mandan to move the village to a new location near Fort Berthold; many Arikara joined them in 1862, also for purposes of defense. Since 1868 the Hidatsa, Mandan, and Arikara, collectively known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, have lived together on what is now the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota.
In the mid-20th century the Three Affiliated Tribes lost more than one-fourth of their reservation to the waters rising behind the Garrison Dam on the Missouri River. Tribal members, who had been farming in the fertile river bottomlands, were relocated to the arid Plains uplands, deeply depressing the reservation economy. By the late 20th century the Three Affiliated Tribes had established buffalo ranching operations and a casino, returning a level of prosperity to their communities.
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Early 21st-century population estimates indicated some 1,500 individuals of Hidatsa descent.