Arikara

From Native American Information Superhighway Alltribes™ Wiki

Arikara are a group of Native Americans who speak the Arikara language, a member of the Caddoan language family. Arikara is close to the Pawnee language, but they are not mutually intelligible.

They were a semi-nomadic people who lived on the Great Plains of the United States of America for several hundred years. They lived primarily in earth lodges, made tipis as temporary shelter while traveling from their villages, and were an agricultural society. Their primary crop was corn. It was such an important aspect of their society that it was often referred to as "Mother Corn". The Arikara moved from South Dakota into North Dakota in response to pressure from other tribes and European American settlers. They are now on the Fort Berthold reservation.

Their population was decimated by smallpox in the late 1830s. During the Black Hills War, Arikara served as scouts for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer in the Little Bighorn Campaign.

Due to their reduced numbers, the Arikara started to live closer to the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, who lived in the same area. Today the three tribes are closely associated and known as the Three Affiliated Tribes. Together the three have a total enrolled population of 8400. Nearly 3800 live on the Fort Berthold Reservation.

Arikara is now spoken in North Dakota by few elders. One of the last fluent speakers, Maude Starr, died on January 20th, 2010. She was a certified language teacher who participated in Arikara language education programs.