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The Mandan called themselves Numakaki ( White Indians ) |
| The
Mandan tribe frequented along the Missouri, and Knife
Rivers, and settled down in present day North Dakota,
only to be followed by the Hidatsa, and Arikara. They are also known for being one of the main agricultural tribes. Mandan villages were the center of the social, spiritual, and economic lives of the Mandan Indians. The villages were strategically located on bluffs overlooking the river for defense purposes. The Mandan are most widely known for their housing, which were referred to as earth lodges. A Mandan lodge could contain from 10 to 30 people per lodge, and there were usually 120 lodges to a community. The arrangement of earth lodges around the central plaza represented the social status of each family. The men of the Mandan villages were warriors whose main pursuit was buffalo, but they also hunted deer, elk, antelope, bear, and waterfowl. After European contact, the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa were subjected to several devastating smallpox epidemics that nearly destroyed them. Unprotected from these diseases, they became infected. Whole families, clans, chiefs, spiritual leaders, and medicine men died quickly, taking with them many of their social and spiritual ceremonies and clan rites. |
| There were the
following tribal divisions and bands: Horatamumake (Kharatanunanke) Matonumake (Matonumanke), Seepooshka (Sipushkanumanke) Tanatsuka (Tanetsukanumanke) Kitanemake (Khitanumanke) Estapa (Histapenumanke) Meteahke. |
