Mandan

The Mandan are a Native American tribe related to the Lakota or Sioux people. They are currently associated with Hidatsa and the Arikara tribes as part of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation or the Three Affiliated Tribes. The Mandan once occupied the Missouri River valley where they were first discovered by Europeans in 1738. Unlike the mostly nomadic tribes in the region, the Mandan were an agricultural people who constructed stationary villages. It was through these villages that the Mandan became successful trading in the region. But, smallpox and war reduced their tribes leaving only 125 Mandan after the epidemic of 1837.

Names

The name “Mandan” is believed to be a corruption of the Lakota word “Mawatani.” The Mandan refer to themselves as “Numakiki” or “people” while The Handbook of American Indians adds that they refer to themselves as “Miah’tanes” or “people of the banks.” Historian Gloria Jahoda in her book Trail of Tears, states that they also call themselves the “Pheasant people.”

Origins

Like all Native American peoples, the exact origins of the Mandan are lost to time. Study by linguists have given evidence that the Mandan language may be closely related to the language of the Ho-Chunk or Winnebago people of present day Wisconsin. This idea is possibly confirmed in their mythology where reference is made to having come from an eastern location near a lake.

Ethnologists and scholars studying the Mandan subscribe to the theory that, like other Siouxan people (including the Hidatsa, possibly), they originated in the area of the upper Mississippi River and the Ohio River in present day Ohio. If this is the case, the Mandan would have migrated north towards the Missouri River valley and its tributary the Heart River in present day North Dakota where Europeans first discovered them.

History

After their arrival on the banks of the Heart River, the Mandan constructed nine villages, two on the east side of the river and seven on the west side. In addition to agriculture, the Mandan became a focus for trade among the tribes of the Missouri River valley.

At some point in time, the Hidatsa people also moved into the region. Mandan tradition states that the Hidatsa were a wild and nomadic tribe until their encounter with the Mandan who taught them to build stationary villages and agriculture. The Hidatsa continued to maintain amicable relations with the Mandan and contructed villages north of them on the Knife River.

The first encouter with Europeans occurred with the visit of the French trader Sieur de la Verendrye in 1838. It is estimated that at the time of his visit there were approximately 15,000 Mandan residing in the nine villages on the Heart River. By 1804 when Lewis and Clark visited the tribe, this number had been greatly reduced due to epidemics of smallpox and warring bands of Assiniboins, Lakotas and Ariakaras (with whom they banded together with to fight the Lakota). The nine villages at this point had consolidated into two villages.

In 1833, artist George Catlin visited the Mandan. Catlin painted and drew scenes of Mandan life as well as portraits of chiefs including Four Bears or Ma-to-toh-pe. His skill at rendering so impressed Four Bears that Catlin was the first man to be allowed to watch the Okeepa ceremony (see Culture below).

The winter months of 1833 and 1834 brought Maximilian, Prince of Weid-Neuweid and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer to stay with the Mandan. Of the scholars who studied and recorded the culture of the Mandan, Maximilian is considered the best.

Between 1837 and 1838, another smallpox epidemic swept the region. There were approximately 1,600 Mandan living in the two villages at the time. Smallpox decimated the two villages killing all, including the chief, Four Bears, but 125. The survivors banded together with the nearby Hidatsa.

By an Executive Order of 12 April 1870, a reservation in western North Dakota and Montana was created for the remaining Mandan, Haditsa and Arikara tribes. On 1 July 1880 another executive order deprived the tribes of the vast majority of their land outside of the reservation.

Culture

Villages

One of the most recognizable features of the Mandan were their villages made up of earthen lodges. These lodges were circular with a dome-like roof with a square hole through which smoke could escape. The lodge also would feature a portico-type structure at the entrance. The exterior was covered with a matting made from reeds and twigs amd then covered with hay and earth. The interior had four large pillars upon which crossbeams supported the roof.

Okeepe Ceremony

One notable feature of the Mandan’s religious life was the Okeepe which was recorded by George Catlin. The ceremony consisted of a variety of torturous ordeals through which warriors proved their courage and the approval of the gods. The Okeepe began with the warriors sitting with smiling faces while the skin of their chests was pierced with sticks. Using the sticks to support the weight of their bodies, the warriors would be suspended from the roof of the lodge and would hang there until they fainted. After fainting, the warrior would be pulled down and the men (women were not allowed to attend this ceremony) would watch the warrior until he awoke which proved the gods approval.

After being awaken, the warrior would sacrifice the little finger on both hands, each finger being severed by a medicine man with a knife. Finally, the warrior would be taken outside where he would be forced to run around the sacred canoe a number of times. Those finishing the ceremony were seen as being honoured by the gods, those completing the ceremony twice would gain everlasting fame among the tribe. Chief Four Bears completed this ceremony twice.

With the exception of what was recorded by the Europeans encoutering the Mandan, most of the Mandan culture existing before the smallpox epidemic of 1837 has disappeared.

Sources

• Hodge, Frederick Webb, ed. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Originally pulished by the Bureau of American Ethnology and the Smithsonian Institute in 1906. Reprinted in New York: Rowman and Littlefield, 1971.
• Jahoda, Gloria. Trail fo Tears: The Story of the American Indian Removals, 1813–1835. New York: Wings Books, 1975.
• For internet sources see External links.

External Links

Three Affiliated Tribes