Mandan Tribe

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Alternate Names and Spellings: "the People of the First Man"

Tribal Headquarters
Three Affiliated Tribes 404 Frontage Road New Town, ND 58763 Phone: 1.701.627.4781 Fax: 1.701.627.3503


 * MHA Nation-Three Affiliated Tribes Website

History
The Mandan are a Native American tribe that historically lived along the banks of the Missouri River and two of its tributaries—the Heart and Knife Rivers in present-day North and South Dakota.

Their first recorded contact with non-Indians was with the French explorer Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738. During the winter of 1804-05, the Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered with the Mandan tribe. In 1834-35, Karl Bodmer, traveling with German Prince Maximilian zu Wied, painted portraits of the Mandan.

The Mandans signed three treaties with the United States government -- the 1825 at the Mandan Village, the 1851 treaty at Laramie (Wyoming), and the unratified 1866 Treaty of Fort Berthold (see links to copies of the treaties under Records below).

The Mandan suffered a smallpox epidemic in 1837, when an estimated 1600 died. Some estimates state that only 125-150 survived and joined with the Hidatsa Tribe. By 1845, the Mandan survivors joined with the Hidatsa at Like-A-Fishhook Village near Fort Berthold. They remained at this village until it was abandoned in 1888.

A reservation for the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Tribes was set apart on 12 April 1870 by Executive Order. The reservation was located principally in present-day North Dakota, with a small portion in Montana. The Fort Berthold Reservation was later reduced to its present size.

Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Tribes merged and incorporated under their constitution and bylaws as the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Brief Timeline

 * 1738: First contact was with the French explorer Sieur de la Verendrye
 * 1804-05: Lewis and Clark Expedition wintered with the Mandan tribe
 * 1825:1825 at the Mandan Village
 * 1833-34: Karl Bodmer, traveling with German Prince Maximilian zu Wied, painted portraits of the Mandan
 * 1837: Smallpox epidemic - estimated 1,600 died. Only 125 survived, these 125 joined the Hidatsa Tribe and settled on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota
 * 1845: merge with the Hidatsa at Like-A-Fishhook Village near to Fort Berthold
 * 1851: 1851 Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc.
 * 1866:1866 at Fort Berthold (unratified)
 * 1870: Fort Berthold agency and reservation established for the tribes of: Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara.
 * 1888: Like-A-Fishhook Village is abandoned
 * 1936: The Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Tribes consolidated as the Three Affiliated Tribes of the Fort Berthold Reservation
 * 1951-1954: The Tribe is relocated for construction of Garrison Dam and reservoir

Additional References to the History of the Tribe

 * Frederick Webb Hodge, in his Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico, gave a more complete history of the Mandan tribe, with estimations of the population of the tribe at various time periods.
 * A history of the Mandan Indians is also included in a Bowen Family web history page, including letters written by George Catlin regarding Mandan history and culture.

Agencies
The following agencies of the Bureau of Indian Affairs had jurisdiction over the Mandan for the time periods indicated. BIA agencies werre responsible to keep such records as census rolls, allotment (land) records, annuity rolls, school records, correspondence, and other records of individual Indians under their jurisdiction. For details, see the page for the respective agency.


 * Upper Missouri Agency, 1824-1866
 * Fort Berthold Agency, 1867-present

Treaties
During the latter part of the 18th Century and most of the 19th Century, treaties were negotiated between the federal government and individual Indian tribes. The treaties provide helpful information about the history of the tribe, but usually only include the names of those persons who signed the treaty. For more information about treaties, click here.

Treaties to which the Mandan Indians were a part were:


 * 1825 at the Mandan Village
 * 1851 Fort Laramie with Sioux, etc.
 * 1866 at Fort Berthold (unratified)

Tribal Office Records
The Tribal Office is responsible for enrollment records, tribal police records, tribal court records, employment records and many others. They are an entirely different set of records from those kept by the Bureau of Indian Affairs. Most of them remain in the Tribal Office. For details, contact that office at the address for the Tribal Headquarters listed above.

Important Web Sites

 * MHA Nation-Three Affiliated Tribes Website
 * Mandan Indians Wikipedia
 * By-Laws of the Three Affiliated Tribes

Mandan Tribe

 * Meyer, Roy W. The Village Indians of the Upper Missouri: the Mandans, Hidatsas, and Arikaras. Lincoiln: University of Nebraska Press, 1977..

General

 * Guide to Federal Records in the National Archives; Record Group 75, Records of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
 * Hodge, Frederick Webb. Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1906 Available online.
 * Klein, Barry T., ed. Reference Encyclopedia of the American Indian. Nyack, New York: Todd Publications, 2009. 10th ed. ; ; WorldCat 37475188;.
 * Malinowski, Sharon and Sheets, Anna, eds. The Gale Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. Detroit: Gale Publishing, 1998. 4 volumes. Includes: Lists of Federally Recognized Tribes for U.S., Alaska, and Canada – pp. 513-529 Alphabetical Listing of Tribes, with reference to volume and page in this series Map of “Historic Locations of U.S. Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Canadian Native Groups” Map of “Historic Locations of Mexican, Hawaiian and Caribbean Native Groups” Maps of “State and Federally Recognized U.S. Indian Reservations. WorldCat 37475188;.


 * Vol. 1 -- Northeast, Southeast, Caribbean
 * Vol. 2 -- Great Basin, Southwest, Middle America
 * Vol. 3 -- Arctic, Subarctic, Great Plains, Plateau
 * Vol. 4 -- California, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Islands


 * Sturtevant, William C. Handbook of North American Indians. 20 vols., some not yet published. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1978–.


 * Volume 1 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 2 -- Indians in Contemporary Society (pub. 2008) -- WorldCat 234303751
 * Volume 3 -- Environment, Origins, and Population (pub. 2006) -- WorldCat 255572371
 * Volume 4 -- History of Indian-White Relations (pub. 1988) -- WorldCat 19331914;.
 * Volume 5 -- Arctic (pub. 1984) -- WorldCat 299653808;.
 * Volume 6 -- Subarctic (pub. 1981) -- WorldCat 247493742;.
 * Volume 7 -- Northwest Coast (pub. 1990) -- WorldCat 247493311
 * Volume 8 -- California (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 13240086;.
 * Volume 9 -- Southwest (pub. 1979) -- WorldCat 26140053;.
 * Volume 10 -- Southwest (pub. 1983) -- WorldCat 301504096;.
 * Volume 11 -- Great Basin (pub. 1986) -- WorldCat 256516416;.
 * Volume 12 -- Plateau (pub. 1998) -- WorldCat 39401371;.
 * Volume 13 -- Plains, 2 vols. (pub. 2001) -- WorldCat 48209643
 * Volume 14 -- Southeast (pub. 2004) -- WorldCat 254277176
 * Volume 15 -- Northwest (pub. 1978) -- WorldCat 356517503;.
 * Volume 16 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 17 -- Languages (pub. 1996) -- WorldCat 43957746
 * Volume 18 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 19 -- Not yet published
 * Volume 20 -- Not yet published


 * Swanton John R. The Indian Tribes of North America. Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin #145 Available online.
 * Waldman, Carl. Encyclopedia of Native American Tribes. New York, New York: Facts on File, 2006. 3rd ed. WorldCat 14718193;.