The rise and fall of the Lakota Empire - Pekka Hämäläinen

In 1776, a powerful empire was born in North America. The Lakotas had reached the Black Hills, the most sacred place and most coveted buffalo hunting grounds in the western plains. Located in what is now South Dakota, control of the Black Hills, or Paha Sapa, marked the Lakotas as the dominant power in the American West. Just a few decades before, they were vying for power in the eastern woodlands—and losing.

One of seven nations, or seven council fires, that made up the Sioux Alliance, the Lakotas had lived in the forests and wetlands between the Great Lakes and the Missouri Valley for centuries. In the 1600s, European colonizers destabilized this region. While some tribes profited by trading furs with New France, the Lakotas lived just out of range of the best trade opportunities. So in the early 1700s, they turned their attention west. The western plains were much less fertile and abundant than the Lakotas’ homelands.

The only easy access to food and water was immediately alongside the rivers—land Arikaras had already claimed. To compete, the Lakotas became skilled buffalo hunters and warriors on horseback. They conquered the farming Arikaras, forcing them to pay tributes of maize and squash. When the Spanish arrived expecting to find lucrative trading grounds, they had to pay tolls to the Lakotas instead.

In 1804, a new spectacle came floating up the Missouri River: Merriwether Lewis and William Clark. Lakota chief Black Buffalo refused to let them pass until they paid a hefty tribute. In spite of this rocky start, the expedition marked the beginning of a close trade alliance between the Lakotas and the United States. Lakota men hunted buffalo, while women processed the hides into robes for trade.

The US government supplied guns, ammunition, and other goods, even providing Lakotas with smallpox vaccines that protected them from the deadly epidemics that ravaged other Native American nations. On paper, the United States had acquired the Lakotas’ lands from France in the Louisiana Purchase. But the Lakotas would not cede their lands because of an agreement between two foreign powers.

Though there were 15,000 Lakotas and 23 million Americans, the bulk of US population and military might was concentrated on the east coast. Just getting an army to Lakota territory presented a huge expense, and once there they would face formidable warriors with deep local knowledge and alliances. To avoid a war it couldn’t afford and wouldn’t win, the US government attempted to appease the Lakotas, paying steep tributes of ammunition and rations demanded by Lakota leaders.

So while almost all the Native Americans in North America were being forced off their lands and onto reservations, the Lakota Empire was still expanding. By 1850, they controlled some 500,000 square kilometers. They were spread thinly across this vast area, moving their villages in pursuit of buffalo. Though there was no central authority, the leaders of bands, or oyates, came together at annual Sun Dances to strategize and coordinate complex diplomatic operations.

Lasting a few weeks each summer, Sun Dances were spiritual ceremonies that reaffirmed communal ties, appeased Wakan Tanka, the Great Spirit, and kept the world in balance. Starting in 1849, the California gold rush brought hordes of white settlers west, encroaching on Lakota territory and disturbing the buffalo herds. Lakota leaders correctly interpreted this migration as a signal that the US no longer intended to respect their claim to the land.

In retaliation, they attacked wagon trains and government offices. As the conflict grew, Chief Red Cloud negotiated in Washington DC. While back in Lakota territory, chiefs Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and others prepared for battle. They mobilized their Cheyenne and Arapaho allies and almost all the other Sioux nations against the US.

In 1876, exactly 100 years after the Lakotas’ arrival, gold prospectors occupied the sacred Black Hills. For many Lakotas, this was the final straw. Following a vision by Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse led Lakota forces to decisively defeat the Americans in the Battle of the Little Bighorn. After this victory, the Lakotas faced an even graver threat: wagon travel and railroad construction had decimated buffalo populations, and they faced starvation.

To survive, they moved on to reservations, where the authorities murdered Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse and attempted to dismantle their culture, prohibiting the Sun Dance on reservations. The Lakotas started a protest movement called the Ghost Dance. Alarmed by this resistance, in 1890, the US Army massacred hundreds of Lakotas, many of them women and children, at Wounded Knee Creek.

Today, Lakotas continue to fight for their culture and their land. In 2016, they drew supporters worldwide to protest construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline through their reservation, continuing a long history of resistance to a government known for breaking its promises.