The Nakota (the Ihanktunwan and Ihanktunwanna) live between the Dakota and Lakota, generally along the Missouri River in southeast South Dakota. The western band, the Titunwan, are known today as the Lakota and are made up of seven sub-bands (the Sicangu, Oglala, Itazipco, Hunkpapa, Mniconjou, Sihasapa, and Ohenunpa). The eastern Dakota, or Santee, are made up of the Mdewakanton, the Wahpekute, the Sissitunwan and the Wahpetunwan. Today the Dakota tribes currently reside in the upper Midwest (Minnesota, North and South Dakota, Nebraska, Montana, and southern Canada). The Lakota were originally in northwestern Minnesota, the southern prairies of Canada, and eastern North Dakota, but they moved to the great western prairies west of the Missouri River as Europeans migrated west. The Nakota resided mainly along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Thanks to the massive profits generated by their luxury casino and resort operation, the 480 members of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Tribe in Minnesota live a comfortable life of luxury and ease. Their original land base was considered to be east to Lake Michigan, south to north central Iowa, west to the prairie, and north into the big woods. The SMSC is one of the four Eastern Dakota bands collectively called the Santee.

Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota are the dialects. We call ourselves “Dakota” people, meaning “friends” or “allies.” There are three main bands of the Great Dakota Nation, separated only by dialect and geography.

Mystic lake casino tribe members