The area now called North Dakota was originally settled by Native American peoples such as the Lakotas and Dakotas, two divisions of the Sioux. Lakota means “friend”. At the end of the seventeenth century, in 1682, the region was claimed by the French. In the eighteenth century, the area was explored by Europeans, who established limited trade with the Indians. A portion of the state was acquired by the United States in a transaction that has come to be known as the Louisiana Purchase. The rest followed in 1818, when a treaty was signed with the British. On November 2, 1889, North and South Dakota wereformally, as the 39th and 40th states of the United States. Thanks to the arrival of railways, the state could be further colonized. The economy was heavily based on agriculture from the beginning, with mainly wheat, flax and livestock raising. Later, agriculture and associated agro-industry shrank and the state experienced a decline in the population in regions that were once very important for agriculture.
Pre-European History
According to watchtutorials, the earliest known population of present-day North Dakota is the Mandan Indian tribe. These lived in the area from the eleventh century. Little or nothing is known about its earlier history. A few centuries later, the Hidatsas also settled in the area. In the seventeenth century a group split from the Hidatsas, these Absarokes settled more to the west, but maintained trade relations with the Hidatsas in North Dakota. Later on, groups of the Dakotas also settled.
First European explorations
In 1682, much of what would later become North Dakota was claimed by the French because it was part of the greater ” Louisiana “, the French claim to the Mississippi River basin. It would take more than half a century before a European would actually visit the area. The first European to visit what would later become North Dakota was the Frenchman Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye in 1738. He set out from Quebec and traveled west. With the help of Assiniboins, he moved northeast to southwest into present-day North Dakota. There he reached a village of the Mandans, probably near present-day New Town. In January 1739, La Vérendrye returned to the nearest European base: Fort La Reine, later expanded to the town of Portage la Prairie in Manitoba, about 60 miles north of the current northern border of North Dakota.
In 1763 France had to cede the area to Spain. North Dakota formally belonged to New Spain and Spain developed a policy for the northern area aimed at improving trade relations with the local Indian tribes and an exploration of the area looking for a waterway connection between the Missouri and the Pacific Ocean. However, the plan was not immediately implemented. There were, however, independent traders active in the area. The villages of the Mandans played an important role in this. They were located where the distance between the Missouri and rivers draining into Hudson Bay (such as the Assiniboine River) was smallest.
In 1793, a group, the Missoury Company, formed in Saint Louis, US, with the aim of exploring and trading the upper Missouri River. They also tried to find a passage to the Pacific Ocean, but only reached the mouth of the Yellowstone (in Williams County, in the northwest of present-day North Dakota). In 1795 a Spanish expedition was sent to the area, the Mackay-Evans Expedition. They followed the Missouri upstream and also reached present-day North Dakota, where they drove several British merchants from Spanish territory.
US territory
In 1802, Spain again had to cede the area to France, but France sold the vast Louisiana to the United States in the famous Louisiana Purchase. The area became part of the United States as the Louisiana Territory. In 1805 and 1806 the area was visited by the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They followed the Missouri from South Dakota and crossed the river at present-day Bismarck. At present -day Washburn, 55 kilometers north, the expedition members built Fort Mandan, where the group wintered. During this break, the members of the expedition gathered information about the local Native American tribes and their culture. The Métis Toussaint Charbonneau was also produced hereand his wife Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian, recruited for the trek primarily for their knowledge of the Native Americans in the area and as a translator. In the spring of 1805, the expedition continued west again, by canoe, along the Missouri where the river’s origin was explored.
In 1812, the Louisiana Territory was renamed the Missouri Territory. In 1818 it became part of British Rupertlandacquired south of 49° N through an exchange with the British. From 1821, what later became North Dakota was no longer part of the Missouri Territory, but was a “disorganized” part of the United States. From 1834, eastern South Dakota belonged successively to the Michigan Territory (1834-1836), the Wisconsin Territory (1836-1838), the Iowa Territory (1838-1846), and the Minnesota Territory (1849-1858). Western North Dakota belonged to the Nebraska Territory from 1854 to 1861. From 1854 to 1858, the Missouri River formed much of the boundary between the Nebraska Territory to the west and the Minnesota Territory to the east. However, the settlement of Europeans in the area was very limited during this period. However, some treaties were concluded between the Americans and the Indians.
Finally, in 1861, the Dakota Territory was created, merging the eastern portion that had belonged to northwestern Minnesota Territory until 1858 with the northern portion of the former Nebraska Territory. In addition to present-day North and South Dakota, portions of present-day Montana, Wyoming, and Nebraska were also part of the Dakota Territory.
Grow
Fargo was founded in 1871 on the banks of the Red River in the far east of the state. In the same year, construction began on a railroad, the Northern Pacific Railway, from Saint Paul / Minneapolis in Minnesota to Oregon on the Pacific Ocean. In June 1872 the railroad reached Fargo and a year later, in June 1873, the railroad reached the banks of the Missouri near Bismarck. However, the construction of the railroad in the Dakota Territory was done in a hostile area and the scouts and builders of the railroad company were often attacked by Native Americans. To this end, they were protected by the US military. The railroad company had received large swaths of land from the US government. The sale of this land guaranteed the necessary funds for the construction. All other land remained the property of the federal government, which gave it away for free to settlers (homesteaders). The arrival of the railroad in Fargo in 1872 also marked the start of the “Dakota Boom”, a first strong increase in the number of inhabitants of European origin. Initially, it was mainly about the Red River valley, on the Dakota/Minnesota border. The climate in the region was relatively cold, especially in winter, but was very suitable for growing wheat. Most settlers were German and Scandinavian immigrants with large families. They shipped large quantities of wheat to the east (Minneapolis) and had tools and household materials brought in from the east. Bismarck was founded in 1872 as “Edwinton” in a place previously called “Missouri Crossing” (after the Lewis and Clark expedition). A year later it was connected to the east by railway and the town was given the name Bismarck, after Otto von Bismarck, in the hope of attracting Germans. Fargo, in the east of the state, was nicknamed “Gateway to the West”. In 1883 Bismarck became the capital of the Dakota Territory.
In 1889, North and South Dakota were recognized as states of the United States. It was decided to split the area into a northern and a southern part because the white settlements were also located separately in the north and south.
