Sioux Falls, city (1990 pop. 100,814), seat of Minnehaha co., SE S.Dak., on the Big Sioux River; settled 1856, inc. as a village 1877, as a city 1883. Settlers abandoned the site in 1862 because of Native American raids, but with the establishment (1865) of Fort Dakota it was resettled. Named for the falls on the Big Sioux River (which furnish power), Sioux Falls is the largest city in the state and the commercial, industrial, and shipping center of an extensive agricultural area. It has long been a major livestock market and meat-processing center, but financial services and other industries are now also important. Signs; building materials; computers; hot-air balloons; plastic, paper, and wood products; consumer and electronic goods; sheet metal; machinery; foods; apparel; and transportation equipment are among its manufactures. Sandstone ("Sioux Falls granite") is quarried nearby. The Univ. of Sioux Falls, Augustana College, a Baptist seminary, and the South Dakota School for the Deaf are there. Also in the city are the state penitentiary and the U.S. Geological Survey's EROS Data Center.

Sioux City, city (1990 pop. 80,505), seat of Woodbury co., NW Iowa, at the junction of the Big Sioux and Floyd rivers with the Missouri; inc. 1857. It is a shipping, wholesale trade, and industrial center for an extensive agricultural and livestock area (including nearby states). It has a huge, central livestock market, a leading hog market, meatpacking houses, and processing plants for popcorn, poultry, and honey. Chemicals and fertilizers, electric and electronic goods, consumer products, feeds, apparel, machinery, transportation and computer equipment, communication towers, and seed are among its diverse products. The city was named to a honor a Sioux chief who aided the area's early pioneers. Morningside College and Briar Cliff Univ. are there. Nearby is a monument commemorating the death and burial (1804) of Sgt. Charles Floyd of the Lewis and Clark expedition.

Sioux or Dakota, confederation of Native North American tribes, the dominant group of the Hokan-Siouan linguistic stock, which is divided into several separate branches (see Native American languages). The Sioux, or Dakota, consisted of seven tribes in three major divisions: Wahpekute, Mdewakantonwan, Wahpetonwan, Sisitonwan (who together formed the Santee or Eastern division, sometimes referred to as the Dakota), the Ihanktonwan, or Yankton, and the Ihanktonwana, or Yanktonai (who form the Middle division, sometimes referred to as the Nakota), and the Titonwan, or Teton (who form the Western division, sometimes referred to as the Lakota). The Tetons, originally a single band, divided into seven sub-bands after the move to the plains, these seven including the Hunkpapa, Sihasapa (or Blackfoot), and Oglala.

Migration toward the Southwest

The Sioux were first noted historically in the Jesuit Relation of 1640, when they were living in what is now Minnesota. Their traditions indicate that they had moved there some time before from the northeast. They were noted in 1678 by the French explorer Daniel Duluth and in 1680 by Father Louis Hennepin in the Mille Lacs region in Minnesota. Their migration had been in a southwesterly direction in the face of the hostile Ojibwa, who had been equipped with guns by Europeans.

In the mid-18th cent., having driven the Cheyenne and Kiowa out of the Black Hills, the Sioux inhabited the N Great Plains and the western prairies—mainly in Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, and up into the bordering provinces of Canada. They then numbered at least 30,000. The Tetons, numbering some 15,000, were the most populous of the seven tribes, and the Oglala Sioux, the largest group of the Teton, numbered some 3,000. The Sioux had a typical Plains-area culture, including buffalo hunting and the sun dance.

Relations with White Settlers

In relations with the white settlers all the divisions of the Sioux have a similar history. The Sioux became friendly with the British after the fall of the French power and supported the British against the United States in the American Revolution and (with the exception of one chief, Tohami, also known as Rising Moose) in the War of 1812. The United States concluded treaties with the Sioux in 1815, 1825, and 1851. A portion of the Sioux under Little Crow rose in 1862 and massacred more than 800 settlers and soldiers in Minnesota; this revolt was suppressed but unrest continued.

In 1867 a treaty was concluded by which the Sioux gave up a large section of territory and agreed to retire to a reservation in SW Dakota before 1876. The discovery of gold in the Black Hills and the subsequent rush of prospectors brought resistance under the leadership of such chiefs as Sitting Bull, Red Cloud, Rain-in-the-Face, Crazy Horse, American Horse, and Gall. In this revolt occurred the famous last stand by Gen. George Armstrong Custer. The last major conflict fought by the Sioux was the battle of Wounded Knee, Dec. 29, 1890, which resulted in the massacre of more than 200 members of the tribe.

The Sioux Today

In Feb., 1973, about 200 supporters, mostly Sioux, of the American Indian Movement seized control of the hamlet of Wounded Knee, S.Dak., demanding U.S. Senate investigations of Native American conditions. The occupation lasted 70 days, during which about 300 persons were arrested by federal agents. In 1979 the Sioux were awarded $105 million for the taking of their lands, resolving a legal action begun in 1923. Today they constitute one of the largest Native American groups, living mainly on reservations in Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana; the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota is the second largest in the United States. Many are engaged in farming and ranching, including the raising of bison. The Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux have a large casino on their reservation in Minnesota, but Oglala efforts to establish one at impoverished Pine Ridge have met with only partial success. Indian Country Today, a successful Native American newspaper, was started at Pine Ridge in 1981; it is now based in Rapid City, S.Dak. In 1990 there were more than 100,000 Sioux in the United States and more than 10,000 in Canada.

Oglala Sioux: see Sioux.

Little Sioux, river, 221 mi (356 km) long, rising in SW Minn. and flowing generally SW across NW Iowa to the Missouri River S of Sioux City. Flowing through a rich agricultural area in the Corn Belt, the river is used extensively for irrigation. The Nepper watershed project, near Mapleton, Iowa, consisting of four dams, was completed in 1948. Serious floods in 1953 and 1954 led to programs for flood control and soil conservation.

Big Sioux, river, 420 mi (676 km) long, rising in NE S.Dak. and flowing S into the Missouri River. It passes through an agricultural region that produces corn, oats, hogs, and beef cattle. The river's meandering course drops 20 ft (6 m) and services a hydroelectric station there. The Big Sioux forms part of the border between Iowa and South Dakota.

City (pop., 2000: 123,975), southeastern South Dakota, U.S. Founded in 1857, the area was abandoned in 1862 following an Indian uprising. With the establishment of Fort Dakota on the site in 1865 the settlers gradually returned. Sioux Falls is the state's largest city, and it is a commercial and financial centre in a livestock-farming region, with one of the largest livestock markets in the U.S. Nearby was one of the world's first commercial nuclear power plants, decommissioned in 1967. The Earth Resource Observation Systems (EROS) Data Center is located in the city.

Learn more about Sioux Falls with a free trial on Britannica.com.

A group of related North American Indian peoples living mostly in the Plains and speaking related langauges within the Siouan language stock. They comprise the Dakota-speaking Santee (Eastern Sioux), the Nakota-speaking Yankton, and the Lakota-speaking Teton (Western Sioux), each of which in turn has lesser divisions (e.g., Blackfoot, Oglala). The name Sioux is a French derivation of an Ojibwa name for “enemy” or “snake.” Before the 17th century the various groups of Sioux had lived in present Minnesota and around Lake Superior; conflict related to the fur trade displaced them to the Plains. There they adopted a nomadic way of life, hunting buffalo, living in tepees, emphasizing valour in warfare, and practicing the sun dance. The Sioux fought American incursions into their territory in 1862 and again in the 1860s and '70s. Sioux resistance to American colonialism culminated in the Battle of the Little Bighorn in 1876, a great indigenous victory. However, economic pressure eventually caused most Sioux to surrender and move to reservations, where many adopted the Ghost Dance religion. In 1890 the U.S. Seventh Cavalry massacred Sioux civilians at Wounded Knee, also the location of an occupation by the American Indian Movement in 1973. The Sioux numbered about 160,000 in the early 21st century. Seealso Sitting Bull.

Learn more about Sioux with a free trial on Britannica.com.