35 Facts About Mandan

Mandan are a Native American tribe of the Great Plains who have lived for centuries primarily in what is North Dakota.

Mandan historically lived along both banks of the Upper Missouri River and two of its tributaries—the Heart and Knife rivers— in present-day North and South Dakota.

The Mandan were a great trading nation, trading especially their large corn surpluses with other tribes in exchange for bison meat and fat.

Mandan had previously heard the earth lodge peoples referred to by the Cree as Ouachipouennes, "the Sioux who go underground".

Mandan have used differing autonyms to refer to themselves: Numakaki was inclusive and not limited to a specific village or band.

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Nueta, the name used after this epidemic was originally the name of Mandan villagers living on the west bank of the Missouri River.

However, since the Mandan language has been in contact with Hidatsa and Crow for many years, the exact relationship between Mandan and other Siouan languages has been obscured.

Ethnologists and scholars studying the Mandan subscribe to the theory that, like other Siouan-speaking people, they originated in the area of the mid-Mississippi River and the Ohio River valleys in present-day Ohio.

The Hidatsa continued to maintain amicable relations with the Mandan and constructed villages north of them on the Knife River.

Mandan gradually moved upriver, and consolidated in present-day North Dakota by the fifteenth century.

The Mandan used them both for transportation, to carry packs and pull travois, and for hunting.

The encounter with the French from Canada in the 18th century created a trading link between the French and Native Americans of the region; the Mandan served as middlemen in the trade in furs, horses, guns, crops, and buffalo products.

The Mandan lost so many people that the number of clans was reduced from thirteen to seven; three clan names from villages west of the Missouri were lost altogether.

In 1796 the Mandan were visited by the Welsh explorer John Evans, who was hoping to find proof that their language contained Welsh words.

Mandan had survived the smallpox epidemic of 1781, but in 1812 Chief Sheheke was killed in a battle with Hidatsa.

Catlin believed the Mandan were the "Welsh Indians" of folklore, descendants of Prince Madoc and his followers who had emigrated to America from Wales in about 1170.

Mandan maintained the stockade around Mitutanka Village when threats were present.

Mandan were first plagued by smallpox in the 16th century and had been hit by similar epidemics every few decades.

Mandan believed that they had been infected by whites associated with the steamboat and Fort Clark.

Under the 1934 Indian Reorganization Act, which encouraged tribes to restore their governments, the Mandan officially merged with the Hidatsa and the Arikara.

The Mandan did not have other land that was as fertile or viable for agriculture.

Mandan were known for their distinctive, large, circular earthen lodges, in which more than one family lived.

Toward the end of the 19th century, the Mandan began constructing small log cabins, usually with two rooms.

Mandan was said to have built a wooden corral that saved the people of a village from a flooding river in North Dakota.

Mandan were originally divided into thirteen clans, which were reduced to seven by 1781, due to population losses in the smallpox epidemic.

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Marriage among the Mandan was generally arranged by members of one's own clan, especially uncles; although, occasionally it would take place without the approval of the couple's parents.

Mandan food came from farming, hunting, gathering wild plants, and trade.

Mandan gardens were often located near river banks, where annual flooding would leave the most fertile soil, sometimes in locations miles from villages.

The Mandan were known for their painted buffalo hides that often recorded historic events.

The Mandan sometimes traded far from home but more often nomadic plains peoples travelled to the upper Missouri villages to trade.

The Mandan exchanged horses with the Assiniboine in exchange for arms, ammunition and European products.

Clark noted that the Mandan obtained horses and leather tents from peoples to the west and southwest such as Crows, Cheyennes, Kiowas and Arapahos.

Up until the late 19th century, when Mandan people began adopting Western-style dress, they commonly wore clothing made from the hides of buffalo, as well as of deer and sheep.

Mandan women wore ankle-length dresses made of deerskin or sheepskin.

Today, Mandan people wear traditionally inspired clothing and regalia at powwows, ceremonies, and other significant events.