Minneconjou

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Former tribal areas of the Sioux groups (green): the Lakota (including the Minneconjou), the neighboring Nakota ( Yanktonai and Yankton ) as well as Dakota tribes and today's reservations (orange)

The Minneconjou are a North American Indian tribe and belong to the Lakota of the Sioux language family . The name Minneconjou is a French form of the self-name Mnikȟówožu or Hokwoju ('Plants by the Water') and means planting on the water .

The Minneconjou are one of seven Lakota tribes; the other six tribes are called Brulé , Hunkpapa , Oglala , Sihasapa , Sans Arc and Two Kettles . Their former tribal area was in the middle of the 19th century in western South Dakota , where they, like most Indians of the Great Plains, lived in tepees and made a living from hunting buffalo .

Groups of the Minneconjou

The Minneconjou are often used together with the Itazipco (from Itázipčho , Itazipcola , Hazipco - 'Those who hunt without bows' -' Those who hunt without bows', French Sans Arc ) and Two Kettles (from Oóhenuŋpa , Oohenonpa - 'Two Boiling ', Two Kettles -' Zwei Kessel ') called Central Lakota and divided into the following groups:

  • Unkche yuta ('Dung Eaters')
  • Glaglaheca ('Untidy', 'Slovenly', 'Shiftless')
  • Shunka yute shni ('Eat No Dogs', split off from the Wanhin Wega )
  • Nige Tanka ('Big Belly')
  • Wakpokinyan ('Flies Along the River')
  • Inyan ha oin ('Musselshell Earring')
  • Siksicela or Shikshichela ('Bad Ones', 'Bad ones of different kinds')
  • Wagleza-oin ('Gartersnake Earring')
  • Wanhin Wega ('Broken Arrow', the Shunka yute shni and Oóhenuŋpa split off around 1840, the latter became independent)

The Two Kettles once belonged to the Wanhin Wega of the Minneconjou, but split off from these around 1840 and formed an independent group from then on.

Culture

Big Foots group of Minneconjou in their costumes at the ghost dance, Cheyenne River, South Dakota. Photographed by John CH Grabill, August 9th, 1890.

The Minneconjou were among the most bellicose Indians in the North American West and were feared by hostile tribes and white opponents alike. They fought numerous battles with the US Army during the Indian Wars and often refused to accept the contractually guaranteed annual payments.

The Indians had a similar idea of ​​war to the European knights of the Middle Ages and saw it as a more sporty competition in which certain rules had to be observed. If a warrior succeeded in an action that required great courage, he earned a special reputation within the tribe. Such bravura pieces were called coups and were understood to mean, for example, the touch of an unwounded enemy with the hand or a stick, which was called a coup staff. Other coups were getting a blow or stab with a spear, knife or tomahawk , stealing the opponent's weapon or stealing a horse from the opponent's camp. The word coup comes from French trappers, but the Indians spoke of counting coups , the number of which could be read on their feather bonnets called war bonnets. Every warrior who had struck a coup immediately shouted Aah-hey (I make a claim!), Which meant the demand for recognition. Every coup had to be confirmed by a credible witness.

history

The Minneconjou were first mentioned by Lewis and Clark in 1804 when they were visited by their expedition on the Missouri River . At that time they numbered about 250 warriors. By 1850, their tribal area was further west between the Black Hills and the Platte River in western South Dakota. In 1866, they were instrumental in the Fetterman Battle , which took place near Fort Phil Kearny and killed 81 American soldiers. Minneconjou warriors also fought in the Wagon Box Fight in 1867 and in the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876 .

After the Sioux Wars for the Black Hills ended in 1877, the Minneconjou were forced to live on the Great Sioux Reservation in South Dakota and Nebraska. At that time their chief was Spotted Elk or Si Tanka , who was called Big Foot by the whites . He was a man well respected for his diplomatic skills. He decided to adopt the whites' way of life and was one of the first North American Indians to grow corn according to government guidelines. He also traveled to Washington to promote the construction of a mission school at the fork of the Cheyenne River. The Bureau of Indian Affairs hesitantly agreed, but the matter was eventually forgotten.

In 1890 Chief Kicking Bear or Mato Wanartaka introduced the spirit dance religion to the Minneconjou. Wovoka , a medicine man of the Northern (Paviotsu) Paiute , had revived this ritual dance . During a spiritual trance he had a vision in which the Creator prophesied that the old times and with them the Indian way of life would return. The buffalo would come back, the whites would disappear and the earth would turn into a paradise for Indians only. In a state of hopelessness, decimated by war, hunger and disease, the Minneconjou welcomed the new religion. Several other Sioux tribes, whose sun dance and other "barbaric customs" were banned by the US Secretary of the Interior in 1883, also adopted the spirit dance, which soon spread across the west. In 1890 the ghost dance was also banned by the government.

Chief Big Foot , dead in the snow at Wounded Knee (December 29, 1890)

On December 15, 1890, Standing Rock Indian Reservation police killed Sitting Bull when he was arrested for allowing his people to perform ghost dancing. Big Foot (Spotted Elk) was on his way to the Pine Ridge Reservation with his Minneconjou when he heard of Sitting Bull's death. On December 28th, the Minneconjou were intercepted by US soldiers under Major Samuel Whitside. Spotted Elk, sick with pneumonia, ordered his people not to resist and to surrender. The soldiers escorted the Indians to Wounded Knee Creek, where they spent the night. On the morning of December 29th, Colonel James Forsyth appeared and took command. He ordered the Indians to surrender all weapons. When a shot was fired during a search, the US soldiers began to fire. Hotchkiss guns positioned on high ground killed around 200 Sioux, including Chief Spotted Elk. 25 US cavalrymen also died, mostly killed by bullets from their own men, who missed their targets in the resulting chaos.

Today's situation in Minneconjou

Today the descendants of the Minneconjou are found in the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation in South Dakota, where they are federally recognized tribes along with other Lakota tribes ; exact figures about each individual tribe no longer exist.

United States - South Dakota

  • Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe (the Cheyenne River Indian Reservation with over 12,141 km² is in the middle of South Dakota, three major rivers - the Missouri River ( Mni Sose - 'Turbid Water' or 'Rolly Water'), Cheyenne River and the Moreau River ( Hinhan Wakpa - 'Owl River') - flow through these, in the north it is bounded by the Standing Rock Indian Reservation , in the east by the Missouri River and in the south by the Cheyenne River, administrative headquarters: Eagle Butte , SD, tribal group: Lakota, Tribes: Minneconjou (Minnecojou or Mnikoujou), Two Kettles (Oohenumpa or Owohe Nupa), Itazipco (Itazipa Cola - Sans Arc or Without Bows), Sihasapa (Siha Sapa - Blackfeet), total tribe members (whites and Indians): 1662,192 (including 12,662,192) Sioux), of which 8,090, including 6,331 Sioux, live in the reservation)

See also

literature

Original edition: Lame Deer Seeker of Visions ISBN 3-471-77423-8 German translation: dtv Munich, 1997 ISBN 3-423-20034-0

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Minneconjou and San Arc bands
  2. ↑ Two Kettles
  3. ↑ René Orth: In the footsteps of the Indians. Ensslin & Laiblin Verlag, Reutlingen, 1988. Page 108ff.
  4. ↑ Big Foot (1825-1890).
  5. ↑ Homepage of the Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe
  6. ↑ http://www.crtribalventures.org/ourres.html