Dakota Datebook: Intertribal Trade

For more than thirteen hundred years, the Dakota prairies were home to some of the most extensive trading centers on the American continent.

As early as 350 A.D., there existed a highly developed network of trade throughout North America. Centrally positioned on the American continent, the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara villages located along the Missouri River served as two of the network’s main tra...