Santee Sioux T-Shirt

Santee Sioux

In the area known as “The Big Woods”, the Upper Councils of The Dakota nation were the Isáŋyathi , “Santee” Sioux. The Dakota tribes of Minnesota regarded Lake Minnetonka as an immense resource for fishing, raising crops, hunting, and for spiritual worship. The two adjacent dwellings in the design represent the two factions of the Santee who lived in the Lake Minnetonka area: The Mdewankanton and the Wahpekute. These two bands of Sioux represented two of the Seven Council Fires: seven factions of Dakota, Nakota & Lakota tribes that formed an alliance in the northern contiguous Unites States. The Isáŋyathi (Santee) was the name given to the Southern Minnesota bands, which roughly translates to ‘Land of Knife Makers’, named for the flint they would chip and shape into blades.

The Mdewankanton, roughly translated from Sioux as “Dwellers of the Mystic Lake” occupied much of the land southwest of the Twin Cities area mainly living in the Minnesota River valley near present day Shakopee.

The Wahpekute, translated from Sioux as “Shooters through the Trees” were nomadic in nature, with no permanent spot they considered home.

After being coerced into ceding much of there lands to European settlers, the Santee –a culture of people to which owning land was not a concept they understood or practiced– were forced into encampments and reservations. With no lands to farm or hunt, they were dependent on food supplied by the encroaching settlers and the US government. When even that agreement eventually failed to be met, the starving peoples of the First Nation were left no choice but an uprising. What followed was The Dakota Wars of 1862.