Learn more about The Seven Council Fires from the Minnesota Historical Society here. The Seven Council Fires (Oceti Ŝakowiŋ) is an overview of Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota cultural objects — totaling approximately 1,000 items — that can be found in the Minnesota Historical Society’s artifact collection.

Read how the Dakota have shaped the state here: The Land, Water, and Language of the Dakota, Minnesota’s First People  

Makxoche Washte, The Beautiful Country: A Lakota Landscape Map View the map here Rivers and streams are pinned at confluences. The only exception is the Mnishoshe (The Water-Astir; Missouri River), which is pinned at the mouth of that stream, which is the Gulf of Mexico; according to Blue Thunder, it is the Mississippi River which…

Enjoy this beginning resource for understanding more about the Dakota people’s relationship to Minnesota from the Minnesota Humanities Center. Try traveling the directions in a traditional way – East (We Are Home), South (Dakota Greeting), West Mnisota: A Dakota Place) and then North for the core of the site – the Memory Map.