There are three main Native peoples in North Dakota:

The Dakota, for whom the state and South Dakota are both named, are close relatives with the Lakota and Nakota. Sometimes they are all collectively called Lakota, but more recently they are referred to as D/L/Nakota. The older name for them used by outsiders is Sioux. They originally came from what is today Minnesota. They are best known as the tribe that defeated Custer at Little Bighorn. There are over 130,000 Lakota, but most are in South Dakota as well as Canada, Montana, and Nebraska.

There is also the Fort Berthold Reservation with the related Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. The three tribes joined together after an act of deliberate genocide, American fur trappers using the notorious smallpox infected blankets to kill most of them.

There are also the Anishnaabe or Ojibwe people, sometimes called by the outdated term Chippewa. There are over 170,000 Ojibwe in the US and Canada. In North Dakota they have the Lake Traverse and Turtle Mountain reservations.

There are also urban Natives throughout the state from many peoples. More than 70% of Natives today live off reservation.

North Dakota is home to about 30,000 Native Americans, and those Native Americans comprise roughly 5% of the state population. They are categorized as the Plains Indians, who have a strong respect for the earth and a deep understanding of humankind’s relationship with nature.

Within the state, there are various tribes, some of which have banded together due to dwindling numbers. The largest tribal group is the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Tribe. There is also the Spirit Lake Nation, which is comprised of the Datkotah/Lakota people and includes Yanktonai, Wahpeton, and some Sisseton tribes. The Standing Rock Nation includes the Lakota, Dakotah, and Nakotah nations, and the Three Affiliated Tribes are comprised of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara tribes. Lastly, there is the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa.