Arikara
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Arikara (also Arikaree, Ree) refers to a group of Native Americans that speak a Caddoan language. They were a semi-nomadic group that lived on the plains of South Dakota for several hundred years. They lived in tipis and were an agricultural society. Their primary crop was corn (or maize), and it was such an important aspect of their society that it was often referred to as "Mother Corn."
The Arikara moved from South Dakota into North Dakota, now on the Fort Berthold reservation.
Their culture was decimated by small pox in the late 1830s, and due to their reduced numbers, started to work closer to the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes who lived in the same area. Today the three tribes are still associated closely together and are known as the Three Affiliated Tribes.
During the Black Hills War, Arikaras served as scouts for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer during the Little Bighorn Campaign.
Arikara is now spoken in North Dakota by a very few elders. Arikara is very close to the Pawnee language, but they are not mutually intelligible.
[edit] See also
[edit] Bibliography
- Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
- Mithun, Marianne. (1999). The languages of Native North America. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X.
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