Southdakotaxl » History of South Dakota

History of South Dakota

The history of South Dakota is multi-faceted. For long people have been living in this state situated in the north central part of United States of America. Exploration into the area of present day South Dakota began as early as 1743 when two people came from France in quest of a route to the Pacific. These two men were Louis Joseph and Francois Verendrye. Later in the year 1803 the U.S. took possession of this region as a part of the Louisiana Purchase which is American acquisition of former Spanish regions from Napoleon Bonaparte of France.

This Louisiana Purchase region was further explored by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark from 1804 to 1806. When all these expeditions took place South Dakota was mainly inhabited by Native Americans and Sioux nomads. It was after eleven years, in 1817, that South Dakota found its first settlement in Fort Pierre.

Though it was the pioneer settlement in South Dakota yet the main settlement boom took place with the arrival of railroads in 1874 and the excavation of gold in the Black Hills mines in 1874. But Fort Pierre area is today’s Pierre, the capital city of South Dakota. Farmers and settlers from Minnesota and Iowa moved to South Dakota in 1850’s and with then several settlements cropped up. Dakota Territory got established incorporating the North and South Dakota regions along with east Wyoming and east Montana. European immigrants like the Scandinavians, Germans and the Russians continued this trend of settlements.

Black Hills Gold fever exited outsiders but were largely resisted by the Native Americans; the massacre of the Big Foot’s Band at the famous Wounded Knee Creek closed the chapter of Native American resistance. The gold mines brought fortune to this land but it was agriculture and cattle ranching which proliferated the creation of cities and townships in South Dakota. This is a brief overview of the history of South Dakota that traces down its earlier settlements that carved out the modern day South Dakota.

South Dakota, USA

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