Fort Berthold Indian Reservation Dunn North Dakota United States
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The first record of encounter with the Mandan by Europeans is in 1738 with the visit of the French Canadian trader La Vérendrye in 1738.
The Mandans carry him into their village, whose location is unknown.
It is estimated that at the time of his visit, fifteen thousand Mandan reside in the nine well-fortified villages on the Heart River; some villages have as many as a thousand lodges.
According to Vérendrye, the Mandans at this time are a large, powerful, prosperous nation who are able to dictate trade on their own terms.
They trade with other Native Americans both from the north and the south, from downriver.
Their friendliness and willingness to trade will bring many traders and fur trappers to their villages over on the Upper Missouri in the next century.
Speakers of Mandan, a Siouan language, the people have develop a settled culture in contrast to that of more nomadic tribes in the Great Plains region.
They have established permanent villages featuring large, round, earthen lodges some forty feet in diameter, surrounding a central plaza.
While the bison is key to the daily life of the Mandan, it is supplemented by agriculture and trade.
Archaeological research suggests the Mandan people migrated from the Ohio River valley to the banks of the upper Missouri River.
The Mandans carry him into their village, whose location is unknown.
It is estimated that at the time of his visit, fifteen thousand Mandan reside in the nine well-fortified villages on the Heart River; some villages have as many as a thousand lodges.
According to Vérendrye, the Mandans at this time are a large, powerful, prosperous nation who are able to dictate trade on their own terms.
They trade with other Native Americans both from the north and the south, from downriver.
Their friendliness and willingness to trade will bring many traders and fur trappers to their villages over on the Upper Missouri in the next century.
Speakers of Mandan, a Siouan language, the people have develop a settled culture in contrast to that of more nomadic tribes in the Great Plains region.
They have established permanent villages featuring large, round, earthen lodges some forty feet in diameter, surrounding a central plaza.
While the bison is key to the daily life of the Mandan, it is supplemented by agriculture and trade.
Archaeological research suggests the Mandan people migrated from the Ohio River valley to the banks of the upper Missouri River.
The Mandan had acquired horses in the mid-eighteenth century from the Apache to the South.
The Mandan use them both for transportation, to carry packs and pull travois, and for hunting.
The horses help with the expansion of Mandan hunting territory on to the Plains.
The encounter with the French from Canada in the seventeenth century had created a trading link between the French and Native Americans of the region; the Mandan serve as middlemen in the trade in furs, horses, guns, crops and buffalo products.
Spanish merchants and officials in St. Louis (after France had ceded its territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain in 1763) explore the Missouri and strengthen relations with the Mandan (whom they call Mandanas).
They want to discourage trade in the region by the British and the Americans, but the Mandan carry on open trade with all competitors; they are not abpout to be limited by the maneuvering of the Europeans.
French traders in St. Louis also seek to establish direct overland communication between Santa Fé and their city; the fur trading Chouteau brothers gain a Spanish monopoly on trade with Santa Fe.
The Mandan use them both for transportation, to carry packs and pull travois, and for hunting.
The horses help with the expansion of Mandan hunting territory on to the Plains.
The encounter with the French from Canada in the seventeenth century had created a trading link between the French and Native Americans of the region; the Mandan serve as middlemen in the trade in furs, horses, guns, crops and buffalo products.
Spanish merchants and officials in St. Louis (after France had ceded its territory west of the Mississippi River to Spain in 1763) explore the Missouri and strengthen relations with the Mandan (whom they call Mandanas).
They want to discourage trade in the region by the British and the Americans, but the Mandan carry on open trade with all competitors; they are not abpout to be limited by the maneuvering of the Europeans.
French traders in St. Louis also seek to establish direct overland communication between Santa Fé and their city; the fur trading Chouteau brothers gain a Spanish monopoly on trade with Santa Fe.
A smallpox epidemic that had broken out in Mexico City in 1779/1780 had slowly spread northward through the Spanish empire, by trade and warfare, reaching the northern plains in 1781.
The Comanche and Shoshone had become infected and carried the disease throughout their territory.
Other warring and trading peoples also had become infected.
The Mandan have lost so many people that the number of clans has been reduced from thirteen to seven; three clan names from villages west of the Missouri are lost altogether.
They eventually move northward about twenty-five miles, and consolidate into two villages, one on each side of the river, as they rebuild following the epidemic.
The much reduced Hidatsa people, similarly afflicted, join them for defense.
They are raided by Lakota Sioux and Crow warriors through and after the epidemic.
The Comanche and Shoshone had become infected and carried the disease throughout their territory.
Other warring and trading peoples also had become infected.
The Mandan have lost so many people that the number of clans has been reduced from thirteen to seven; three clan names from villages west of the Missouri are lost altogether.
They eventually move northward about twenty-five miles, and consolidate into two villages, one on each side of the river, as they rebuild following the epidemic.
The much reduced Hidatsa people, similarly afflicted, join them for defense.
They are raided by Lakota Sioux and Crow warriors through and after the epidemic.
The Mandan are visited in 1796 by the Welsh explorer John Evans, who is hoping to find proof that their language contains Welsh words.
Numerous European Americans hold that there are "Welsh Indians" in these remote areas, a persistent myth that is written about widely.
Evans had arrived in St. Louis two years prior, and after being imprisoned for a year, had been hired by Spanish authorities to lead an expedition to chart the upper Missouri.
Evans has spent the winter of 1796–97 with the Mandan but has found no evidence of any Welsh influence.
In July 1797 he writes to Dr. Samuel Jones, "Thus having explored and charted the Missurie for 1,800 miles and by my Communications with the Indians this side of the Pacific Ocean from 35 to 49 degrees of Latitude, I am able to inform you that there is no such People as the Welsh Indians."
Numerous European Americans hold that there are "Welsh Indians" in these remote areas, a persistent myth that is written about widely.
Evans had arrived in St. Louis two years prior, and after being imprisoned for a year, had been hired by Spanish authorities to lead an expedition to chart the upper Missouri.
Evans has spent the winter of 1796–97 with the Mandan but has found no evidence of any Welsh influence.
In July 1797 he writes to Dr. Samuel Jones, "Thus having explored and charted the Missurie for 1,800 miles and by my Communications with the Indians this side of the Pacific Ocean from 35 to 49 degrees of Latitude, I am able to inform you that there is no such People as the Welsh Indians."
British and French Canadians from the north have carried out more than twenty fur-trading expeditions down to the Hidatsa and Mandan villages in the years 1794 to 1800.
General Henry Atkinson, appointed Commissioner together with Indian agent Benjamin O'Fallon and with a military escort of four hundred and seventy-six men, leaves Fort Atkinson with his fellow commissioner on May 16, 1825, and, ascending the Missouri, negotiates treaties of friendship and trade with tribes of the upper Missouri, including the Arikara, the Cheyenne, the Crow, the Mandan, the Ponca, and several bands of the Sioux.
At this time, there is still rivalry with British traders on the upper Missouri.
The treaties acknowledge that the tribes live within the United States, vow perpetual friendship, and recognize he right of the United States to regulate trade, promising to deal only with licensed traders.
The tribes agree to forswear private retaliation for injuries and to return or indemnify the owner of stolen horses or other goods.
Efforts to contact the Blackfoot and the Assiniboine are unsuccessful.
At this time, there is still rivalry with British traders on the upper Missouri.
The treaties acknowledge that the tribes live within the United States, vow perpetual friendship, and recognize he right of the United States to regulate trade, promising to deal only with licensed traders.
The tribes agree to forswear private retaliation for injuries and to return or indemnify the owner of stolen horses or other goods.
Efforts to contact the Blackfoot and the Assiniboine are unsuccessful.
The Atkinson-O'Fallon Expedition, returning from the Upper Missouri to Fort Atkinson at the "Council Bluff" in Nebraska, conduct successful negotiations with the Otoe, the Pawnee and the Omaha.
Kurz's journals note and review the bustling frontier communities along the banks of Mississippi and Missouri.
He is unsuccessful in mining and and horse trading.
In 1850 he had married Witthae, daughter to Kirutshe, leader of an Iowa Indian group but the marriage did not last—Witthae ran away after two weeks, pining for her people.
Eventually, after four years of struggle to pay board and lodging, he meets Alexander Culbertson, formerly Superintendent of the defunct American Fur Company and now a special agent for the United States government, in Council Bluffs, in June 1851 and embarks the steamer St. Ange to Fort Berthold.
While Kurz works as a clerk for Culbertson, who is interpreter and special agent for government negotiations with the Plains tribes and plays a significant role negotiating the Treaty of Fort Laramie, also sketched scenes in the area, despite being told that the Mandan and Hidatsa people consider painting and drawing will bring ill luck.
He is unsuccessful in mining and and horse trading.
In 1850 he had married Witthae, daughter to Kirutshe, leader of an Iowa Indian group but the marriage did not last—Witthae ran away after two weeks, pining for her people.
Eventually, after four years of struggle to pay board and lodging, he meets Alexander Culbertson, formerly Superintendent of the defunct American Fur Company and now a special agent for the United States government, in Council Bluffs, in June 1851 and embarks the steamer St. Ange to Fort Berthold.
While Kurz works as a clerk for Culbertson, who is interpreter and special agent for government negotiations with the Plains tribes and plays a significant role negotiating the Treaty of Fort Laramie, also sketched scenes in the area, despite being told that the Mandan and Hidatsa people consider painting and drawing will bring ill luck.
Rudolph Friedrich Kurz travels the Northern Plains in the early 1851, encouraged by fellow Swiss artist Karl Bodmer.
He leaves an account as well as sketches of the Hidatsa and Mandan village tribes.
Born in 1818 in Bern, Switzerland to Johannes Kurz (who immigrated to Switzerland from the German city of Reutlingen in 1806 settling in Langnau, Canton Bern) and Maria Stooss, he attended drawing classes at the Bern gymnasium under Joseph Volmar.
In 1838 he travelled to Paris to further his studies; thereupon he met Alexander von Humboldt and Karl Bodmer.
Upon returning to Bern in 1842 he became head of painting class at the Fellenberg Institute in Hofwil.
Again he left Bern in 1846 for America.
He leaves an account as well as sketches of the Hidatsa and Mandan village tribes.
Born in 1818 in Bern, Switzerland to Johannes Kurz (who immigrated to Switzerland from the German city of Reutlingen in 1806 settling in Langnau, Canton Bern) and Maria Stooss, he attended drawing classes at the Bern gymnasium under Joseph Volmar.
In 1838 he travelled to Paris to further his studies; thereupon he met Alexander von Humboldt and Karl Bodmer.
Upon returning to Bern in 1842 he became head of painting class at the Fellenberg Institute in Hofwil.
Again he left Bern in 1846 for America.
The goal of the United States in the Laramie Treaty of 1851 had been to establish a permanent peace on most of the northern plains and to define tribal territories.
The basic treaty area of the Arikara, the Hidatsa and the Mandan is a mutual territory north of Heart River, encircled on the east and north by the Missouri and on the west by Yellowstone River down to the mouth of Powder River.
The Lakota had continued to press north after 1823, so they got treaty rights on the area along Grand River as well as other land south of Heart River.
Peace was short-lived.
As drawings collected by W. J. Hoffman of Hunkpapa Chief Running Antelope will show, in 1853 he already had killed four Arikara Indians.
The next year the Three Tribes call for the U. S. Army to intervene; that request will be repeated over the next two decades.
The basic treaty area of the Arikara, the Hidatsa and the Mandan is a mutual territory north of Heart River, encircled on the east and north by the Missouri and on the west by Yellowstone River down to the mouth of Powder River.
The Lakota had continued to press north after 1823, so they got treaty rights on the area along Grand River as well as other land south of Heart River.
Peace was short-lived.
As drawings collected by W. J. Hoffman of Hunkpapa Chief Running Antelope will show, in 1853 he already had killed four Arikara Indians.
The next year the Three Tribes call for the U. S. Army to intervene; that request will be repeated over the next two decades.
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