Dakota people

The Dakota people are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux /ˈsuː/ people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota.

The Eastern Dakota are the Santee (Isáŋyathi or Isáŋ-athi; "knife" + "encampment"), who reside in the eastern Dakotas, central Minnesota and northern Iowa. The Western Dakota are the Yankton, and the Yanktonai (Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋ and Iháŋktȟuŋwaŋna; "Village-at-the-end" and "Little village-at-the-end"), who reside in the Missouri River area. The Yankton-Yanktonai are collectively also referred to by the endonym Wičhíyena, and have in the past been erroneously classified as Nakota.

Name

The word Dakota means "ally" in the Dakota language, and their autonyms include Ikčé Wičhášta ("Indian people") and Dakhóta Oyáte ("Dakota people").

Ethnic groups

The Dakota are one of the three major linguistic groups of Siouan-speaking people (the others being the Lakota (Thítȟuŋwaŋ or Teton) and Nakota (Assiniboine), and one of the two major ethnic groups still speaking a relatively mutually-intelligible common language - D/Lakota. The Dakota include the following bands: Santee (Isanti), including the Bdewákaŋthuŋwaŋ (Mdewakanton), Waȟpéthuŋwaŋ (Wahpeton), Waȟpékhute (Wahpekute), Sisíthuŋwaŋ (Sisseton), and the Iháŋkthuŋwaŋ (Yankton), and Iháŋkthuŋwaŋna (Yanktonai).