The Cheyenne

Northern Cheyenne Territory

Before 1700 the home of the Cheyenne was in central Minnesota, where they farmed, hunted, gathered wild rice, and made pottery.

They later occupied a village of earth lodges on the Cheyenne River in North Dakota; it was during this period that they acquired horses and became dependent on the buffalo.

The town was destroyed by the Chippewa, and the Cheyenne settled along the Missouri River.

Toward the close of the 18th century, smallpox and the aggression of the Dakota decimated the village tribes at the same time.

The Cheyenne moved farther west to the area of the Black Hills, where they developed their unique version of the tepee-dwelling nomadic Plains culture and gave up agriculture and pottery.

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