Arikara

• CATEGORY: Tribe
• CULTURE AREA: Plains
• LANGUAGE GROUP: Caddoan
• PRIMARY LOCATION: North Dakota, South Dakota
• POPULATION SIZE: 792 Arikara alone (2010 US Census); 1,356 alone or in any combination (2010 US Census); 17,373 as part of the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation (Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation, 2024)

The Arikara, or Ricaree, lived along the lower Missouri River basin in modern-day North and South Dakota. This prairie country was conducive to the Arikara's hunting and agriculture practices. The nation had originally been Pawnee, but it at some point moved north up the Missouri to form its own nation. The nation maintained much of the Pawnee language yet was influenced by the neighboring Sioux and other Indigenous nations.

The Arikara hunted, farmed, and fished. During the winter, the nation spent its time hunting, ranging as far as 40 miles (64.3 kilometers) in search of bison. During this time, the people lived in lodges constructed of animal hides. Yet, these Indigenous Americans were not renowned as great hunters, nor did they keep many horses in their own possession. Rather, they served as intermediaries in the distribution of horses from the nomadic nations south and west of the Missouri to other nomadic nations north and east of the river.

When they were not engaged in hunting, Arikara housing was more permanent. Huts were constructed by driving four posts into the ground and laying timbers lengthwise between them. Smaller twigs were then filled in and overlaid with rushes, willows, and grass. The entire structure was plastered thickly with mud, with a hole left in the top for smoke and one in the side for a door. The finished home was round. Each hut was excavated inside to a depth of 2 to 4 feet (0.6 to 1.2 meters), making the interior tall enough for people to stand up and walk around. Beds were located around the extremity of the interior circle. A covered passage about 10 feet (3.04 meters) in length was then constructed outward from the side opening, sloping gently from the exterior to the interior, with a wooden door helping to shut out the elements. Trenches were dug around the outside of the huts to guide rainfall away. Huts were placed randomly within the village, 15 to 20 (4.6 to 6 meters) feet apart, with no paths of any regularity among the dwellings. Cellars were dug within the houses to store corn and other produce.

Corn was grown on family farms of about 1 acre (0.4 hectare) each. Farming plots were separated by brush and rudely built pole fences. Women did the majority of the farming chores, using hoes and pickaxes made from the shoulder blades of cows and deer, and rakes made from reeds. The corn, a variety of Indian corn with a small hard grain and stalks only 2.5 to 3 feet (0.6 to 0.9 meters) tall, was planted in April or May and then picked around the first part of August. The Arikara women picked the corn when it was still green, boiled it slightly, dried it, shelled it, and then stored it. Other popular crops were squashes, either boiled or eaten green, and pumpkins. Crops were subject to occasional floods by the Missouri River and drought. The Arikara held various rites and ceremonies related to crop production.

They also capitalized on their agricultural successes by trading crops with the American Fur Company for knives, hoes, combs, beads, paints, ammunition, and tobacco. In addition, they traded with the Sioux for buffalo robes, skins, and meats—and then, in turn, traded these items with Whites for guns and horses.

The Arikara were known to be good swimmers and anglers. The men would place willow pens in eddies of the river, and then throw the caught fish to shore. In the spring, the men would sometimes float out on melting ice cakes and gather rotting buffalo that had died in the winter, stack them on the shore, and then feast on the carcasses with fellow tribe members. Women were known to float out on ice floes in much the same manner to collect driftwood.

The Arikara were adept at making fired, unglazed pots; pans, porringers, and mortars for pounding corn; ornaments of melted beads; and skin canoes of buffalo hide and willows for hunting along the banks of the Missouri River. They made good use of the resources available to them and were generally considered to be a peaceful people.

A once prosperous people, the Arikara were stricken by a smallpox epidemic late in the eighteenth century that wiped out many of their people. The nation that Lewis and Clark encountered in 1804 was a much-reduced population of about 2,000. In 1823, they clashed with US forces over the death of their chief, who mysteriously died on a diplomatic mission to Washington, DC. By the middle of the nineteenth century, two more bouts of smallpox struck the nation and further diminished their numbers.

Following these devastating smallpox epidemics, in 1862, the Arikara joined the Mandan and Hidatsa at Like-a-Fishhook Village in North Dakota to form an alliance that was initially known as the Three Affiliated Tribes—later known as the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation. They are a federally recognized Indigenous American nation located mainly on the Fort Berthold Reservation in western North Dakota, although most members live off-reservation. The nation provides government programs such as healthcare, law enforcement, and natural resource management, and participates in business ventures, including managing the valuable oil resources on its land.

The MHA Education Department’s Arikara Language Project trains teachers and produces curricula, assessments, and digital tools aimed at creating new fluent speakers, complemented by children’s books and classroom materials vetted by tribal members and linguists. The tribe also presents Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara history through the MHA Nation Interpretive Center in New Town, while Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College offers instruction in all three languages—Nueta/Mandan, Hidatsa, and Sahnish/Arikara.

In 2025, Elbowoods Memorial Health Center issued a request for qualifications for architectural and engineering services to build a new ambulatory clinic. In October 2025, North Dakota’s governor and state agencies met on Fort Berthold with MHA Nation leadership to coordinate priorities across health, services, and other shared concerns.

Bibliography

"Fort Berthold Reservation - Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Tribes (Missouri River, West Central North Dakota)." University of Montana Natural Areas, www.umt.edu/native-garden/circles/mandan-hidatsa-arikara.php. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

"Governor Stresses State-Tribal Relations in Meeting with MHA Nation Members ." Minot Daily News, 4 Oct. 2025, www.minotdailynews.com/news/local-news/2025/10/governor-stresses-state-tribal-relations-in-meeting-with-mha-nation-members/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

"Mandan, Hidasta, and Arikara." National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institute, 2024, mads.si.edu/mads/id/NMNH-NAASubjectGuide_MHA_2024. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

"MHA Language Project – Arikara ." MHA Language Project, 2015, arikara.org/about-the-language/. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

"MHA Nation." The Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, 2018, www.mhanation.com. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.

"North Dakota Tribe Buys Idle Oil Pipeline from Enbridge: 'A Major Step.'" CBS News, 12 June 2023, www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/north-dakota-tribe-buys-idle-oil-pipeline-from-enbridge-a-major-step. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College and North Dakota Department of Public Instruction. "History and Culture of the Mandan, Hidatsa, Sahnish (Arikara)." North Dakota Tribal History and Culture Series, 2002, commons.und.edu/nd-tribal-history-series/2/. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

"Paul Dyck Collection: Arikara." Buffalo Bill Center of the West, centerofthewest.org/explore/plains-indians/paul-dyck-collection-arikara. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

"The Sahnish (Arikara)." North Dakota Studies, www.ndstudies.gov/sahnish-arikara. Accessed 25 Oct. 2024.

"Tribal Enrollment Summary." Office of Tribal Enrollment, 10 Jan. 2024, static1.squarespace.com/static/5a5fab0832601e33d9f68fde/t/659f152801c7c45a5a0fbfe8/1704924459953/Enrollment+Summary+-+January+10%2C+2024.pdf. Accessed 6 Oct. 2025.