From their website: The Mdewakanton, "those who were born of the waters," have lived on Prairie Island for countless generations. Located in south eastern Minnesota along the wooded shores of the Mississippi and Vermillion Rivers, Prairie Island is a spiritual place for our people.
For many hundreds of years we have inhabited this area of Minnesota. The Prairie Island people are part of a larger group called the Dwellers of the Spirit Lake, in our language the Mde wakan ed otunwahe. Over the years this name has been shortened to Mdewakantonwan or Mdewakanton (M'DAY-wah-kahn-tahn).
The Mdewakanton are one of the seven sub-tribes who make up the alliance called Oceti Sakowin - the Seven Council Fires. Most of the world knows our alliance as the Sioux, which comes from an Ojibwe word nadowessi - "Little snakes." The French changed it to Nadowesioiux or simply Sioux. We call ourselves Dakota, Lakota, or Nakota, a word that means "allies" or "friends" in all three dialects.
The Dakota/Lakota/Nakota have reservations in the states of Minnesota, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Montana; and in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
A list of how the Prairie Island Indian Community has supported the Diversity Foundation over the years will be placed here soon.
