Mandan History Timeline

(c. 1000 CE–Present)

Mandan History follows the development, achievements, and enduring cultural traditions of the Mandan people, an Indigenous nation of the Northern Great Plains. More Less

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Origins and culture

Mandan consolidation in North Dakota

1400 - 1500

The Mandan gradually moved upriver and consolidated in what is now North Dakota by the fifteenth century.

Image source: Mandan

Huff develops extensive corn storage

1400 - 1500

As early as the fifteenth century, the Mandan town of Huff had enough storage pits to hold 70,000 bushels of corn.

Circular Mandan lodges emerge

1500

Originally rectangular, Mandan lodges began to be constructed in circular form around 1500 CE.

Image source: Earth lodge

Mandan clans are reduced by population loss

1781

The Mandan were originally divided into thirteen clans, but population losses during the 1781 smallpox epidemic reduced the number to seven.

Mandan perform the last traditional Okipa

1889

The last Okipa ceremony was performed in 1889. The ceremony was later revived in a somewhat different form in 1983.

Image source: Okipa

Mandan adopt more Western-style clothing

1890 - 1900

Until the late nineteenth century, Mandan people commonly wore clothing made from buffalo, deer and sheep hides. During that period they began adopting Western-style dress.

Only four Mandan clans remain

1950

By 1950, only four Mandan clans survived.

Epidemics and population

Mandan population reaches historical height

1500 - 1782

From 1500 to about 1782, the Mandan reached the height of their population and influence.

Mandan suffer recurring epidemics

1500 - 1800

The Mandan were first plagued by smallpox in the sixteenth century and were struck by similar epidemics every few decades.

Mandan population reaches 3,600

1700 - 1730

The Mandan population was approximately 3,600 in the early eighteenth century.

Smallpox spreads north from Mexico

1779 - 1781

A smallpox epidemic broke out in Mexico City in 1779 or 1780, spread north through the Spanish empire by trade and warfare, and reached the northern plains in 1781.

Image source: Smallpox

Smallpox devastates Mandan villages

1781 - 1782

The widespread smallpox epidemic of 1781 decimated the Mandan. They abandoned several villages, while remnants of the Hidatsa gathered with them in a reduced number of villages.

Mandan population falls after the 1837 epidemic

1836 - 1838

There were more than 1,600 full-blood Mandans in 1836, but a smallpox epidemic in 1836–37 reduced the estimated number to 125 by 1838. Approximately 90 percent of the population died in the 1837–38 epidemic.

Image source: 1837 Great Plains smallpox epidemic

American Fur Company steamboat carries smallpox west

Jun 1837

In June 1837, an American Fur Company steamboat traveled westward up the Missouri River from St. Louis during the epidemic that swept the region.

Mitutanka is burned

Jan 9, 1839

Mitutanka, then occupied by Arikaras and some Mandans, was burned by Yankton Sioux Indians on January 9, 1839.

Mandan begin demographic recovery

1900 - 2000

In the twentieth century, the Mandan population began to recover after the devastating epidemics and nineteenth-century losses.

Debate continues over epidemic transmission

1902 - 1987

Hiram M. Chittenden blamed the American Fur Company in 1902. Later scholars, including Ann F. Ramenofsky in 1987, argued that contaminated articles could intentionally transmit smallpox; the Commissioner of Indian Affairs had refused to send vaccine to the Mandans.

Mandan ancestry recorded in the 2010 Census

2010

In the 2010 Census, 1,171 people reported Mandan ancestry.

European and American encounters

Mandan become regional trade middlemen

1700 - 1800

Contact with French traders created a trading link between French Canadians and Native peoples. The Mandan served as middlemen in exchanges involving furs, horses, guns, crops and buffalo products.

Koatiouak identified as Mandan

1736

A 1736 letter by Jesuit Jean-Pierre Aulneau mentioned the Koatiouak, who are identified as Mandans.

Verendrye visits the Mandan

1738

The first European known to visit the Mandan was the French Canadian trader Sieur de la Verendrye in 1738.

Image source: Pierre Gaultier de La Vérendrye

Mandan acquire horses

1750 - 1760

The Mandan acquired horses from the Apache to the south in the mid-eighteenth century.

Spain strengthens relations with the Mandan

1763 - 1800

After France ceded its territory west of the Mississippi to Spain in 1763, Spanish merchants and officials in St. Louis explored the Missouri and strengthened relations with the Mandan, whom they called Mandanas.

Nuptadi is burned by Sioux attackers

1785

Sioux Indians attacked and set fire to the Mandan village of Nuptadi around 1785.

Canadian fur expeditions reach Mandan villages

1794 - 1800

British and French Canadians from the north conducted more than twenty fur-trading expeditions down to Hidatsa and Mandan villages between 1794 and 1800.

Evans searches for Welsh influence

1796 - 1797

Welsh explorer John Evans visited the Mandan in 1796, hoping to find evidence that their language contained Welsh words. He spent the winter of 1796–97 with them but found no such evidence.

Image source: John Evans (explorer)

Lewis and Clark encounter the Mandan

1804

By the time Lewis and Clark visited the Mandan in 1804, their population had been greatly reduced by smallpox epidemics and warfare involving Assiniboine, Lakota and Arikara groups.

Image source: Lewis and Clark Expedition

Chief Sheheke is killed

1812

Chief Sheheke, who had survived the 1781 smallpox epidemic, was killed in a battle with the Hidatsa in 1812.

Catlin visits the Mandan

1832

Artist George Catlin visited the Mandan near Fort Clark in 1832.

Image source: George Catlin

Maximilian and Bodmer stay with the Mandan

1833 - 1834

During the winter of 1833–34, Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied and Swiss artist Karl Bodmer stayed with the Mandan and documented aspects of their lives.

Image source: Prince Maximilian of Wied-Neuwied

Language and modern life

The name Mandan enters European usage

1738

The English name Mandan derives from Pierre Gaultier, Sieur de la Verendrye, who heard the name Mantannes from Assiniboine guides, who called the Mandan Mayádąna.

Image source: Mandan language

Mandan language fieldwork continues

1993

Since 1993, University of Utah linguist Mauricio Mixco has been involved in fieldwork with remaining Mandan speakers.

Four Bears Casino and Lodge opens

1993

The Three Affiliated Tribes constructed Four Bears Casino and Lodge in 1993, attracting tourists and generating gaming and employment income for the reservation.

Image source: Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation

Mandan language becomes severely endangered

1999

By 1999, only six fluent speakers of Mandan were still alive. Only the Nuptare variety survived into the twentieth century, and all speakers were bilingual in Hidatsa.

Four Bears Bridge opens to traffic

Sep 2, 2005

The new Four Bears Bridge, replacing an older bridge built in 1955, opened to traffic on September 2, 2005, and was formally inaugurated on October 3.

Image source: Four Bears Bridge

Local schools promote Mandan language learning

2010

As of 2010, programs in local schools encouraged students to learn the Mandan language.

Treaties and reservation

Mandan sign the Atkinson-O'Fallon treaty

1825

In 1825, the Mandan signed a peace treaty with the leaders of the Atkinson-O'Fallon Expedition.

Image source: Arikara War

Survivors move to Like-a-Fishhook Village

1845

After the epidemic, surviving Mandans joined nearby surviving Hidatsa. In 1845, they moved upriver and developed Like-a-Fishhook Village.

Image source: Like-a-Fishhook Village

Hidatsa move to Like-a-Fishhook Village

1845

The Hidatsa moved about 20 miles north in 1845, crossed the Missouri River and built Like-a-Fishhook Village, where they lived with surviving Mandans.

Mandan join the Fort Laramie Treaty

1851

The Mandan were parties to the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851, which recognized 12 million acres owned jointly by the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara.

Image source: Treaty of Fort Laramie (1851)

Arikara join the Mandan and Hidatsa

1862

In the summer of 1862, the Arikara joined the Mandan and Hidatsa at Like-a-Fishhook Village on the upper Missouri.

Sioux set fire to Like-a-Fishhook Village

1862

Before the end of 1862, some Sioux Indians set fire to part of Like-a-Fishhook Village.

Fort Berthold Reservation is established

Apr 12, 1870

An executive order of April 12, 1870, created the Fort Berthold Reservation and acknowledged that the Three Affiliated Tribes held 8 million acres.

Image source: Fort Berthold Indian Reservation

Land outside the reservation is taken

Jul 1, 1880

Another executive order on July 1, 1880, deprived the Three Affiliated Tribes of 7 million acres outside the reservation boundaries.

Reservation is reduced to 900,000 acres

1910

Further federal land seizures reduced the Fort Berthold Reservation to approximately 900,000 acres by 1910.

Mandan merge with Hidatsa and Arikara

1934

Under the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which encouraged tribes to restore their governments, the Mandan officially merged with the Hidatsa and Arikara.

Garrison Dam construction begins

1951

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers began construction of Garrison Dam on the Missouri River in 1951.

Image source: Garrison Dam