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We didn’t own the lands,
they belonged to everybody,
so we were willing to share with others.
And it was used against us
the generosity was used against us.
Dakota and Ojibwe people first encountered
Europeans when French explorers, traders,
soldiers, and missionaries traveled to
the northwestern part of the land
now known as Minnesota.
Many traders married Indian women,
creating kinship networks
important to trade and cooperation.
Interested in expanding U.S. territory,
the U.S. government signed treaties
with Indian nations.
Missionaries influenced Indian people
to adopt Christianity, a tactic they thought
necessary for the Indian’s survival.
Other European immigrants settled
in the area in large numbers.
By 1854, the Euro-American population
of Minnesota territory was more than 30,000,
and just three years later, it topped 150,000.
You go into this area,
set up a homestead and then it’s yours.
Many of our people had to leave Germany,
because of oppression and many problems.
They promised the land of Milk and Honey,
and they came here to find it.
This influx of new people and
varying relationships would change
the Dakota homeland forever.
Regardless of what happened to the Germans,
they were encroaching on
our way of life, our lands.
The German settlers in Cincinnati
and Chicago were told,
once they cross the Mississippi,
nobody lives there.