Dakota in Minnesota

A history of the region's first residents, the Dakota, whose stories show how they have eternally made Minnesota their home. The Dakota people have called this region home for millennia. The name Minnesota itself comes from the Dakota language, Mni Sota Makoce, meaning Land Where the Waters Are So Clear They Reflect the Clouds. This long-awaited treatment of one of the state's first peoples shares the Dakota origin story, the people's stewardship of the land and its resources, and the strong interconnections among Dakota family groups and other tribes who lived throughout the territory that would become Minnesota. From early fur trade interactions, to the heartbreak of contested treaties and the hardship of reservation life, to the anguish of the U.S.-Dakota War of 1862, to the people's lives in Minnesota in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, Dakota in Minnesota probes the state's history as seen through Dakota eyes. Bringing the story up to the present, Westerman explores the impact of gaming, continued negotiations with the U.S. government, and the affirming power of language and cultural revitalization. Age-old traditions thread through vibrant contemporary life as Dakota in Minnesota reminds readers that Minnesota is a Dakota place--both historically and today.