South Dakota History

South Dakota history just might bring you into a state where history is hard to miss.

How to Become a South Dakotan

Depending on whether you believe in evolution or not, South Dakota has been around for a long time or a REALLY long time. But this argument aside, here’s what experts have to say about the land.

Between 500 and 800 AD, the mound builders were in the lands in South Dakota, helping to create civilizations there. Of course, they were nomadic as well, so they didn’t stick around long. Near the Missouri River, the Crow Creek Massacre occurred, which lead the slaughter of many innocent people – it seems the land is not free from blood.

Coming into the more modern time, the Louisiana Territory purchase gave the land of South Dakota to the United States from Napoleon Bonaparte and his shifty hand. Upon buying this parcel of land, President Jefferson sent out the famous Lewis and Clark expedition to find out what they’d gotten for their money. It looked good, so they set up Fort Pierre, which was a fur trading post, and thus began the idea of actually living in this land.

Sioux Falls and Yankton were the biggest cities in the area and the first ones that popped up once people decided to settle down. During an expedition, gold was discovered in the Black Hills, leading to even more people coming into the area to see what the land might provide.

Once the Dakota Territory, in 1889, Present Harrison signed a piece of paper that split up the lands into two states – North and South. Of course, not everything was happy after that. The Battle of Wounded Knee took place in 1890. Many people lost their lives during this massacre as the U.S. Marshals Service battled the supporters of the American Indian Movement.

What next? Drought, the not-so-Great Depression, wars, etc. Same old story.

Today, South Dakota is a much more diversified area, with more industries than before. And you thought it was just a farming country.