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Abdih-Hiddisch, a Minitaree chief

The Hidatsa (called Minnetaree by their allies, the Mandan) are a Siouan people, a part of the Three Affiliated Tribes. The Hidatsa call themselves Hiraacá. According to the tribal tradition, the word hiraacá derives from the word "willow"; however, the etymology is not transparent and the similarity to mirahací ‘willows’ inconclusive. The present name Hidatsa was formerly borne by one of the three tribal villages. When the villages consolidated, the name was adopted for the tribe as a whole. Their language is related to that of the Crow, and they are sometimes considered a parent tribe to the modern Crow in Montana. Occasionally they have also been confused with the Gros Ventres in Montana. This article is about the Native American tribe. ... Pre-contact distribution of the Siouan languages The Siouan (a. ... Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, also known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, are a Native American group comprising a union of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples, whose native lands ranged across the Missouri River basin in the Dakotas. ... Species About 350, including: Salix acutifolia - Violet Willow Salix alaxensis - Alaska Willow Salix alba - White Willow Salix alpina - Alpine Willow Salix amygdaloides - Peachleaf Willow Salix arbuscula - Mountain Willow Salix arbusculoides - Littletree Willow Salix arctica - Arctic Willow Salix atrocinerea Salix aurita - Eared Willow Salix babylonica - Peking Willow Salix bakko Salix barrattiana... Crow indians (Karl Bodmer) The Crow, also called the Absaroka or Apsáalooke, are a tribe of Native Americans who historically lived in the Yellowstone River valley and now live on a reservation south of Billings, Montana. ... This article is about the U.S. State. ... A Gros Ventre named Assiniboin Boy. ...

Accounts of recorded history in the early 18th century identify three closely related village groups to which the term Hidatsa is applied. What is now known as the Hidatsa tribe is the amalgamation of these three groups, the Hidatsa proper, the Awatixa, and the Awaxawi (or Amahami) (Bowers 1965). These groups had different histories and the three Hidatsa village groups spoke distinct dialects and only came together after they settled on the Missouri River. The Missouri River is a tributary of the Mississippi River in the United States. ...

The Amahami have a tradition similar to that of the Mandan, where they emerged from the earth, long ago, at Devil's Lake. Later they moved westward to the Painted Woods (near Square Buttes) and settled near a village of Mandans and another of Awatixa.

The Awatixa originated not from the earth, but from the sky, led by Charred Body (Wood and Hanson 1986:34). According to their tradition, their first people lived near Painted Woods, "where they were created" (Bowers 1948:17-18). After that they always lived between the Heart and Knife Rivers along the Missouri.

The Hidatsa proper, largest of the three, still with those who would become the River Crow, separated from the Amahami in what is now western Minnesota. First they settled to the north, then later moved south to Devil's Lake. In their travels they met the Mandans and then moved westward and settled with these distant relatives north of the Knife River. Later they moved to the mouth of Knife River.

The Hidatsa originally lived in Miniwakan, the Devil's Lake region of North Dakota, before being pushed southwestward by the Lakota. As they migrated west, the Hidatsa came across the Mandan at the mouth of the Heart River. The two groups formed an alliance, and settled into an amiable division of territory along the area's rivers. For other places with the same name, see Devils Lake (disambiguation). ... Eddie Plenty Holes, a Sioux Indian photographed about 1899. ...

In 1804, Lewis and Clark came to the Hidatsa in three villages at the mouth of the Knife River, and the Mandans in two villages a few miles lower down on the Missouri River. Tribal appearance and customs have been documented by the visits of two artists of the American west. The allied tribes were first visited by George Catlin, who remained with them several months in 1832, and later by Karl Bodmer, a Swiss painter, who accompanied German explorer Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied on a Missouri River expedition from 1832 to 1834. Catlin and Bodmer's work are a unique record of a lifestyle which was quickly impacted and changed by disease and government regulation. Lewis and Clark redirects here. ... The Knife River The Knife River is a tributary of the Missouri River, approximately 120 mi (193 km) long, in North Dakota in the United States. ... George Catlin (1796 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania – December 23, 1872 in Jersey City, New Jersey) was an American painter who specialized in portraits of Native Americans in the Old West. ... Karl Bodmer, (February 6, 1809-October 30, 1893), was a Swiss painter of the American West. ... Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied Prince Alexander Philipp Maximilian zu Wied-Neuwied (September 23, 1782 - February 3, 1867) was a German explorer, ethnologist and naturalist. ...

Scalp dance of the Minitaree

The smallpox epidemic of 1837-1838 reduced the Hidatsa to about 500 people. The remaining Mandan and Hidatsa united, and moved farther up the Missouri in 1845. They eventually settled at Like-a-fishhook bend near Fort Berthold. They were joined there by the Arikara in 1862.

The Hidatsa are a matrilineal people, with descent determined through the maternal line. As the early Mandan and Hidatsa heavily intermarried, children were taught to speak the language of their mother, but understand the dialect of either tribe. A short description of Hidatsa-Mandan culture, including a grammar and vocabulary of the Hidatsa language, was published in 1877 by Washington Matthews, a government physician assigned to the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation. Later, during the early twentieth century, Gilbert Livingston Wilson carried out extensive ethnographic work with the elderly Hidatsa woman, Buffalo-Bird Woman, along with members of her immediate family at Fort Berthold. This work detailed traditional economy, ceremony, and day to day practices as remembered by Buffalo-Bird Woman who lived at Like-a-Fishhook Village. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation is a U.S. Indian reservation in North Dakota that is home for the Three Affiliated Tribes which consists of the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa peoples. ...

See also

• Knife River Indian Villages National Historic Site
• Knife River: Early Village Life on the Plains, a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan
• Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden, As Recounted by Maxi'diwiac (Buffalo Bird Woman) (ca.1839-1932) of the Hidatsa Indian Tribe, Originally published as Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation, by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson
• Minnesota State Historical Society Inventory of G.L. and F.N. Wilson’s Papers

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