Description
The Cheyenne are an Indigenous people of the Great Plains. Today, the Cheyenne people are split into two federally recognized nations: the Southern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes in Oklahoma, and the Northern Cheyenne, who are enrolled in the Northern Cheyenne Tribe of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation in Montana. The Cheyenne comprise two Native American tribes that merged in the early 19th century. At the time of their first European contact, the Cheyenne lived in what is now Minnesota. They were close allies of the Arapaho and loosely aligned with the Lakota. By the early 18th century, they were forced west by other tribes across the Missouri River and into North and South Dakota, where they adopted the horse culture. Having settled the Black Hills of South Dakota and the Powder River Country of present-day Montana and Wyoming, they introduced the horse culture to Lakota people about 1730. With the Arapaho, the Cheyenne pushed the Kiowa to the Southern Plains. In turn, they were pushed west by the more numerous Lakota.
Language
Cheyenne spoke an Algonquian language and inhabited the regions around the Platte and Arkansas rivers during the 19th century.
Culture
The tribe lived predominantly in what is now Minnesota, later migrating to the Dakota territory. They were a hard-working, nomadic people with a deep knowledge of and appreciation for the land. Clothing, shelter, bags and equipment were made from buffalo and other animals they hunted. Plants and leaves were gathered and used for food and medicines. Traditional Cheyenne society was organized into 10 major bands governed by a council of 44 chiefs and 7 military societies; the Dog Soldiers were the most powerful and aggressive of the military groups. There were also social, dance, medicine, and shamanistic societies; a given society was generally open to either male or female members but not to both. Over the past 400 years, the Cheyenne have changed their lifestyles. In the 16th century, they lived in the regions near the Great Lakes. They farmed corn, squash, and beans, and harvested wild rice like other indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands. They migrated west in the 18th century and hunted bison on the Great Plains. By the mid-19th century, the US forced them onto reservations.