Editing Sioux (section)

===Westward expansion of the Lakota===
{{See also|Lakota people}}
Prior to the 1650s, the {{Lang|dak|Thítȟuŋwaŋ}} division of the {{Lang|dak|Očhéthi Šakówiŋ}} known as the Lakota was noted as being located east of the Red River,<ref name="NDstudiesLakota">{{cite web |url=https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-ii-time-transformation-1201-1860/lesson-2-making-living/topic-2-horses-return/section-2-lakota-horses |title=Lakota Horses |work=North Dakota Studies |publisher=State Historical Society of North Dakota |access-date=2019-08-29 |archive-date=April 8, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190408043057/https://www.ndstudies.gov/gr8/content/unit-ii-time-transformation-1201-1860/lesson-2-making-living/topic-2-horses-return/section-2-lakota-horses |url-status=live }}</ref> and living on the fringes of the prairies and woods of the prairies of southern Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas by at least 1680.<ref name="Gibbon"/> According to Baptiste Good's [[winter counts|winter count]], the Lakota had horses by 1700.<ref name="NDstudiesLakota"/> While the Dakota continued a subsistence cycle of corn, wild rice and hunting woodland animals, the Lakota increasing became reliant on bison for meat and its by-products (housing, clothing, tools) as they expanded their territory westward with the arrival of the horse.<ref name="Gibbon"/> After their adoption of [[horse culture]], Lakota society centered on the [[American Bison|buffalo]] hunt on horseback.

[[File:Tableau 31 Indians hunting the bison by Karl Bodmer.jpg|thumb|Illustration of ''Indians hunting the bison'' by [[Karl Bodmer]]]]
By the 19th century, the typical year of the Lakota was a [[buffalo hunting|communal buffalo hunt]] as early in spring as their horses had recovered from the rigors of the winter. In June and July, the scattered bands of the tribes gathered together into large encampments, which included ceremonies such as the [[Sun Dance]]. These gatherings afforded leaders to meet to make political decisions, plan movements, arbitrate disputes, and organize and launch raiding expeditions or war parties. In the fall, people split into smaller bands to facilitate hunting to procure meat for the long winter. Between the fall hunt and the onset of winter was a time when Lakota warriors could undertake raiding and warfare. With the coming of winter snows, the Lakota settled into winter camps, where activities of the season, ceremonies and dances as well as trying to ensure adequate winter feed for their horses.<ref>Hyde, George E. ''Red Cloud's Folks: A History of the Oglala Sioux'' Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1937, p. 160; Price, Catherine, ''The Oglala People, 1841–1879'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, pp. 13–16</ref>

They began to dominate the prairies east of the Missouri river by the 1720s. At the same time, the Lakota branch split into two major sects, the Saône who moved to the [[Lake Traverse]] area on the South Dakota–North Dakota–Minnesota border, and the Oglála-Sičháŋǧu who occupied the [[James River (Dakotas)|James River]] valley. However, by about 1750 the Saône had moved to the east bank of the [[Missouri River]], followed 10 years later by the Oglála and Brulé (Sičháŋǧu). By 1750, they had crossed the Missouri River and encountered Lewis and Clark in 1804. Initial United States contact with the Lakota during the [[Lewis and Clark Expedition]] of 1804–1806 was marked by a standoff. Lakota bands refused to allow the explorers to continue upstream, and the expedition prepared for battle, which never came.<ref>''The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition'', University of Nebraska.</ref> In 1776, the Lakota defeated the Cheyenne for the [[Black Hills]], who had earlier taken the region from the [[Kiowa]].<ref name="cheyenne"/> The Cheyenne then moved west to the [[Powder River country]],<ref name="cheyenne"/> and the Lakota made the Black Hills their home.

As their territory expanded, so did the number of rival groups they encountered. They secured an alliance with the Northern [[Cheyenne]] and Northern [[Arapaho]] by the 1820s as intertribal warfare on the plains increased amongst the tribes for access to the dwindling population of buffalo.<ref name="Gibbon"/> The alliance fought the [[Mandan]], [[Hidatsa]] and [[Arikara]] for control of the [[Missouri River]] in North Dakota.<ref name="Gibbon"/> By the 1840s, their territory expanded to the Powder River country in Montana, in which they fought with the Crow. Their victories over these tribes during this time period were aided by the fact those tribes were decimated by European diseases. Most of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara were killed by smallpox and almost half the population of the Crow were killed due to smallpox, cholera and other diseases.<ref name="Gibbon"/> In 1843, the southern Lakotas attacked Pawnee Chief Blue Coat's village near the [[Loup River|Loup]] in Nebraska, killing many and burning half of the earth lodges,<ref>Jensen, Richard E.: The Pawnee Mission, 1834–1846. ''Nebraska History'', Vol. 75, No. 4 (1994), pp. 301–310, p. 307, column III.</ref> and 30 years later, the Lakota again inflicted a blow so severe on the Pawnee during the [[Massacre Canyon]] battle near Republican River.<ref>Riley, Paul D.: The Battle of Massacre Canyon. Nebraska History, Vol. 54, No. 2 (1973), pp. 221–249.</ref> By the 1850s, the Lakota were known as the most powerful tribe on the Plains.<ref name="Gibbon"/>