North Dakota has been inhabited for many centuries. Archeological investigations document hunting cultures dating back 2000 B.C.
When the first white explorers arrived they found distinct Indian groups that existed in what is now North Dakota. The tribes they encountered included the Dakota or Lakota nation sometimes called "Sioux" by their enemies that feared them. Other tribes included the Cheyenne, Mandan, Arikara, Assiniboine and Hidatsa. The Chippewa (or Ojibway) moved into the northern Red River Valley around 1800. Tribes of Crow, Blackfeet and Cree often roamed the range for buffalo during that time.

During the fur trade of the 18th and 19th centuries the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa villages became trading hubs. These indians were not nomadic like other tribes that wandered the plains in search of herds. They camped close to the Missouri River, tending their gardens and supplemented their food supplies with hunting.

A French Explorer from Canada, La Verendrye reached the Missouri around 1738 while searching for a water route to the Pacific Ocean. He and many other Canadians were the first contact with white men that the Indians encountered until the expedition of Lewis and Clark in 1804.

 

 

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