NORTH DAKOTA

The word Dakota means "friend" or "ally".  for the first 9,000 years of its existence, North Dakota was the land of Indians.  Around 1300, the Mandan tribes established farming communities along the Missouri River.  They were joined in the 17th century by the Hidasta and Arikara tribes.  With the beginning encroachment of the white man and other tribes to the east, the Sioux (also called the Dakota) joined these bands.  In 1837, the Mandan Indian tribes were all but decimated by a Smallpox epidemic.  

North Dakota was visited by the explorer, Robert Cavelier, sieur de La Salle, who claimed this territory in the name of France. In 1738, Pierre La V�rendrye explored the central section of North Dakota.  The United States acquired the southwestern portion of North Dakota in 1803 as part of the Louisiana purchase but it remained unsettled for many years and was  left primarily to the Indians until some time in 1851, when the region was officially opened for settlement.  In 1804, Lewis and Clark built Fort Mandan on the Missouri River while crossing the area.  The rich soil of the Red River region drew settlers to that area.  This is the boundary line between North Dakota and Minnesota.

The first settlers to move into that region were the Scotch, who built the settlement at Pembina in 1812, led by the earl of Selkirk, a British subject.  In the middle 1800s, farmers started claiming the land, coming from Norway.  Land disputes between the Indian Tribes and the settlers were a common occurrence.  In 1818, through an agreement with Britain, the United States gained the remaining portion of North Dakota.  For the next 71 years, the jurisdiction for this area fell under nine different U. S. territories.  This area became known as the Dakota Territory in 1861 and comprised of both North and South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming.  Wyoming and Montana broke off from this section in 1864.  The remaining section was divided equally between what is now North Dakota and South Dakota in about 1873.

The Dakota Territory was created in 1861.  It was opened to settlers by the Homestead Act of 1863.  By1868, the last of the Dakota people were removed to reservations and by 1870, the Arikara, Hidasta and remaining Mandan peoples were sent to the Fort Berthold Reservation.

The Northern Pacific Railroad finally reached Fargo in 1871, connecting it to the east coast.  In 1883, Bismarck was declared to be the territorial capital.  On 2 November 1889, North Carolina ratified the Constitution of the United States and became its 39th state and one of the primary wheat, sugar beet and sunflower producers in America.   

The ethnic groups attracted to that area over the years were Swedes, Danes, Icelanders, Czechs, Poles and Dutch.  French-Canadian citizens came down from the north, following the Red River.  Other Europeans and many Germans settled around the Bismarck area.    

NORTH DAKOTA RESEARCH LINKS