Land area
Land of the Sioux in Minnesota and Wisconsin, ceded 1837 (area 243)
- 1837
Ceded to the United States
In the record
Ceded by the Sioux in 1837, all their land east of the Mississippi, in Minnesota and Wisconsin. The area covers about 3.9 million acres in what is now Minnesota and Wisconsin.
The 1899 record names Sioux (as named in treaty records) as the people of this land.
How it was taken: a treaty made under documented pressure. The MNHS MNopedia biography of Wacouta I says the Dakota delegation was pressured in Washington and that a chief later said the whites deceived the leaders.
Today, Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe, Crow Creek Sioux Tribe, Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakota, Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montana, Lower Brule Sioux Tribe, Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesota and 10 more carry the history of the people named here.
Written from the records linked here; open any of them for its sources.
Shapes come from C. C. Royce’s 1899 maps as georeferenced by the US Forest Service. They are approximate and are not legal descriptions of land. Royce recorded land the United States treated as ceded; the shape does not show a nation’s territory.
Who is doing the work
This history belongs to living nations. Start with them:
Working with these nations
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate) Nation government Pe' Sla (1,942 acres, Nov 30, 2012)
- Owamniyomni Okhodayapi (formerly Friends of the Falls) Native-led Dakota-led restoration and return of care for sacred St. Anthony Falls (Owamniyomni) site in Minneapolis, with… Give on their site Website
- Cheyenne River Youth Project (CRYP) Native-led Youth programs Website
- Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation (Lakota Land Systems) Native-led Lakota-led regenerative community development on Pine Ridge: Lakota Land Systems Give on their site Website
- Siċaŋġu Co (Sicangu Community Development Corporation; Wolakota Buffalo Range) Native-led Sicangu Lakota economic engine incl. Wolakota Buffalo Range, food sovereignty initiative, local foods Give on their site Website
- Indian Land Tenure Foundation (ILTF) Native-led Land recovery and control by tribes and individual Indian landowners Website
Land return and Native-led work nearby
- Great Lakes Indian Fish and Wildlife Commission (GLIFWC) Nation government Ojibwe treaty rights in ceded territories, natural resource stewardship, manoomin, and a Land Conservancy program… Give on their site Website
- Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Nation government Restoration of about 200,000 acres to reservation status (1975)
- Stockbridge-Munsee Community (Band of Mohican Indians) Nation government 372 acres on Monument Mountain's north slope (finalized Apr 2025; $2.5M, $2.26M state grant)
- Dream of Wild Health Native-led Owns a 30-acre farm in Hugo MN Give on their site Website
Native legal and land defense, nationally
- Native American Rights Fund (NARF) Native-led Litigation and legal advocacy for tribal sovereignty, treaty rights, land and resources Give on their site Website
- NDN Collective (LANDBACK Campaign) Native-led LANDBACK campaign (launched 2020; Mount Rushmore closure and return of Black Hills public lands), Indigenous… Give on their site Website
- Decolonizing Wealth Project (Indigenous Earth Fund; California Tribal Land Return) Native-led Reparative philanthropy Give on their site Website
- Honor the Earth Native-led Pipeline resistance, sovereignty, energy justice Give on their site Website
Gifts go straight to each organization; this atlas takes nothing. Listing is not endorsement: how organizations are listed.
Connections
Links marked “suggested” were matched automatically by name or date and have not yet been reviewed by a person.
Nations named for this land 18
- Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes of the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, Montanamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Cheyenne River Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Crow Creek Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Dakotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe of South Dakotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Lower Brule Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Lower Sioux Indian Community in the State of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Oglala Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Prairie Island Indian Community in the State of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Rosebud Sioux Tribe (Sicangu Oyate)matched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Santee Sioux Nation, Nebraskamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Show all 18
- Sioux (as named in treaty records)as named in the 1899 recordsuggested
- Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyatematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Spirit Lake Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Standing Rock Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Upper Sioux Community, Minnesotamatched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
- Yankton Sioux Tribematched by the Forest Service, under reviewsuggested
Located in 2
Agreements recorded for this land 1
- Sioux of Mississippi at Washington, DC (1837)1837suggested
Sources
- Royce, Indian Land Cessions (1899), Schedule entry dated 1837-09-29primary record
- Kappler, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties, text for 1837-09-29primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Minnesota 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- Royce’s map sheet: Wisconsin 1 (Library of Congress)primary record
- USDA Forest Service, Tribal Lands Ceded to the United States (digitized Royce maps)reference work
The record’s fields
- Area number in the 1899 record
- 243
- Dates in the 1899 record
- 1837-09-29
- Kind of instrument
- Treaty or agreement
- Peoples as named in the 1899 record
- Sioux
- States
- MN; WI
- Counties
- Anoka; Buffalo; Clark; Dunn; Eau Claire; Jackson; La Crosse; Pepin; Pierce; Ramsey; Sherburne; St. Croix; Trempealeau; Vernon; Washington
- Map sheets in the 1899 record
- Minnesota 1; Wisconsin 1
- Geometry
- Approximate shape from Royce’s 1899 maps
Research notes
geometry_role is 'cession' for every USFS feature: no field in the source distinguishes cessions from reservations.
- Kind
- Land area
- Confidence
- Medium