| Human beings have lived in what is today | | | | Dakota's largest present-day cities: Sioux |
| South Dakota for at least several thousand | | | | Falls in 1856 and Yankton in 1859. In 1861, |
| years. French and other European explorers in | | | | Dakota Territory was recognized by the United |
| the 1700s encountered a variety of groups | | | | States government (this initially included |
| including the Omaha and Arikara (Ree), but by | | | | North Dakota, South Dakota, and parts of |
| the early 1800s the Sioux (Dakota, Lakota, | | | | Montana and Wyoming). Settlers from |
| and Nakota) were dominant. In 1743, the | | | | Scandinavia, Germany, Ireland, and Russia, as |
| LaVerendrye brothers buried a plate near the | | | | well as elsewhere in Europe and from the |
| modern capital Pierre (pronounced as "peer") | | | | eastern U.S. states, increased from a trickle |
| claiming the region for France as part of | | | | to a flood, especially after the completion |
| greater Louisiana. In 1803, the United States | | | | of an eastern railway link to the territorial |
| purchased the Louisiana Territory from | | | | capital of Yankton in 1872, and the discovery |
| Napoleon, though the native peoples | | | | of gold in the Black Hills in 1874 during a |
| inhabiting most of this area were not aware | | | | military expedition led by George A. Custer. |
| of the transaction. | | | | This expedition took place despite the fact |
| | | | that all of Dakota Territory west of the |
| President Thomas Jefferson organized a group | | | | Missouri River (along with much of Nebraska, |
| called the Corps of Discovery, led by | | | | Montana, and Wyoming) had been granted to the |
| Meriwether Lewis and William Clark (commonly | | | | Sioux by the Treaty of 1868 as part of the |
| referred to as "Lewis and Clark Expedition"), | | | | Great Sioux Nation. The Sioux declined to |
| to explore the newly-acquired region. In | | | | grant mining rights or land in the Black |
| 1817, an American fur trading post was set up | | | | Hills, and war broke out after the U.S. |
| at present-day Fort Pierre, beginning | | | | failed to stop white miners and settlers from |
| continuous American settlement of the area. | | | | entering the region. |
| Through much of the 19th century, exploratory | | | | |
| expeditions such as those of Lewis and Clark | | | | Native Americans were unable to compete with |
| and Joseph Nicollet coincided with an | | | | the greater numbers and superior weaponry |
| increasing presence of the U.S. Army. In | | | | available to U.S. forces. They were also |
| 1855, the U.S. Army bought Fort Pierre but | | | | hampered by the sharp decline in numbers of |
| abandoned it the following year in favor of | | | | the buffalo, which was a major food source of |
| Fort Randall to the south. Settlement by | | | | the Sioux. Between 1878 and 1886, the |
| Americans and Europeans was, by this time, | | | | Euro-American settler population of eastern |
| increasing rapidly, and in 1858, the Yankton, | | | | Dakota Territory tripled. The last major |
| Dakota, and Sioux resigned themselves to | | | | incident in this struggle occurred on |
| signing the 1858 Treaty, ceding most of | | | | December 29, 1890, at Wounded Knee Creek in |
| present-day eastern South Dakota to the | | | | present-day western South Dakota, when U.S. |
| United States. Of this, Yankton leader | | | | soldiers massacred as many as 300 Sioux, |
| Strike-the-Ree said "The white men are coming | | | | mostly women and children. |
| like maggots. It is useless to resist | | | | |
| them.... Many of our brave warriors would be | | | | Just over a year earlier, on November 2, |
| killed, our women and children left in | | | | 1889, Dakota Territory was incorporated into |
| sorrow, and still we would not stop them." | | | | the United States as the modern states of |
| | | | North Dakota and South Dakota. |
| Land speculators founded two of eastern South | | | | |