What type of transport did the Mandan Tribe use?
The main type of transport for the Mandan tribe was the horse. However, the village tribes like the Mandan who lived along the Missouri River also used a small, bowl-shaped bullboat. They made the bullboat by stretching a buffalo hide over a wooden frame. It was too clumsy for water travel, but it could be used to ferry people and products across the river and for fishing. The above picture by Karl Bodmer was painted c1832 and shows a Mandan village and bullboat.
What clothes did the Mandan men wear?
The clothes worn by the Mandan men consisted of breechcloths, fringed buckskin tunics and leggings. Warm buffalo robes or cloaks or blankets were also worn to protect against the rain and the cold. The Mandan men wore beaded, straight-up feathered bonnets in a halo style decorated with eagle feathers and beadwork as a symbol of courage and accomplishments. They sometimes wore a long ornament worn at the back of the head made using sticks covered with eagle feathers and dyed porcupine quills. These were neatly fastened to the hair and reached down to the shoulders. They wore moccasins, a soft, light beige, slip-on shoe, consisting of a sole and sides made of one piece of leather.
Mandan Clothing
The women of the Mandan tribe were responsible for making the clothes worn by the people. Most garments were sewn from the soft, tanned skins of deer (buckskin) and buffalo hide. Mandan clothing was often decorated with paint, porcupine quills or beadwork. Mandan clothing for both men and women were adorned with ornaments, especially necklaces and earrings.
What clothes did the Mandan women wear?
The type of clothes worn by the Mandan women were knee-length dresses and leggings. The women also wore the buffalo robes to keep warm and dry. The dresses of the Mandan women that were used for special ceremonies were intricately decorated with beads. Dresses were also painted with symbols that reflected their tribal identity and family values celebrating acts of courage by their men or sacrifices made for the well-being of the family and tribe. Mandan women wore their hair long worn in two, thick braids that were often decorated with beads.
What language did the Mandan tribe speak?
The Mandan tribe spoke in the Caddoan language.
Mandan tribe - Winter Counts and Picture Writing
The Mandan used picture writing to record their history. Winter counts were pictorial calendars or histories in which tribal records and events were recorded in picture writing The Winter counts named each year by an outstanding event. The famous Leonid meteor shower took place on the morning of November 13, 1833 that was witnessed throughout North America was recorded in a Mandan Winter count.
What food did the Mandan tribe eat?
The food that the Mandan tribe ate included the crops they raised of corn, sunflower seeds, beans, pumpkins and squash. The food from their crops was supplemented by fish and meat, especially bison, that was acquired on the hunting trips. The meats also included deer, elk, bear and wild turkey. Their main food were supplemented with roots and wild vegetables such as spinach, prairie turnips and potatoes together with berries and fruits such as melon. When food was scarce the Mandan tribe ate dried buffalo meat, called pemmican.
What was the religion and beliefs of the Mandan tribe?
The religion and beliefs of the Mandan tribe was based on Animism that encompassed the spiritual or religious idea that the universe and all natural objects animals, plants, trees, rivers, mountains rocks etc have souls or spirits. The Great Plains tribes such as the Mandan believed in Manitou, the Great Spirit.
What were the rituals of the Mandan tribe? The Sun Dance Ceremony
The rituals and ceremonies of the Mandan tribe and many other Great Plains Native Indians, included the Sweat Lodge ceremony, the Vision Quest and the Sun Dance Ceremony. During the infamous Sun Dance ceremony the young men of the Mandan tribe endured a a four day ordeal in which they were first cleansed in a sweat lodge, then undertook a long solitary experience exposed to the heat of the day and the cold of the night. They then entered a special lodge and had parts of their bodies slashed and were hung up by ropes attached to skewers in the shape of sharp animal claws, that were embedded in their flesh. The scars they bore served as a mark that they had undergone the Sun Dance ritual and had undertaken a difficult journey on their Vision Quest. The last Mandan Sun dance ceremony (Okipa) was performed in 1889. The Mandan tribe used the sacred, ceremonial pipe (called a Calumet), which was ritually filled with tobacco and passed among participants at all sacred ceremonies of the Mandan Tribe.
What weapons did the Mandan use?
The weapons used by the Mandan tribe included bows and arrows, stone ball clubs, hatchet axes, spears, lance and knives. Painted war shields were used on horseback as a means of defence. The Mandan tribe developed a ceremony to consecrate firearms. Many tribes attributed the outcome of battles to good or bad 'medicine, not the accuracy of the shooters.
Who were the most famous leaders and chiefs of the Mandan tribe?
The most famous leaders and chiefs of the Mandan tribe were Abdih-Hiddisch, (Chief Road-Maker) and Mah-to-teh-pa (Chief Four Bears), Chief Shahaka (Big White), Chief Red Cow and Chief Gray Eyes. The tribe were enemies of the Lakota Sioux and the Assiniboine tribes.
Mandan History Timeline: What happened to the Mandan tribe?
The following history timeline details facts, dates and famous landmarks and battles fought by the Mandan Nation. The timeline explains exactly what happened to the Mandan tribe. The Mandan have originally formed a single tribe with the Gros Ventre.
Mandan History Timeline
1250: The Mandan tribe migrate from the Ohio Valley to the Great Plains region and continued their farming lifestyle living in fortified villages of earth lodges but extend their lifestyle to include hunting
1575: The Mandan build the fortified On-a-Slant village which was occupied for at least 200 years
1650: Mandan villages are located between Cannonball and Knife Rivers
1670: Mandan make contact with English traders on the Hudson Bay obtaining metal axes and spear points
1781: The tribe abandon On-a-Slant village following a devastating smallpox epidemic
1804: The Lewis and Clark expedition visited and established friendly relations with the Mandan tribe
1805: Mandan Chief Shahaka (Big White) travelswith Lewis and Clark to visit President Thomas Jefferson
1823: The Arikara War against the US erupts along the upper Missouri River in Dakota Territory following Arikara attacks on the boats of American traders
1825: Treaty signed with the US represented by General Henry Atkinson and Major Benjamin O'Fallonare
1836: Conflicts with the Sioux
1837: Smallpox epidemic strikes the 'Three Tribes'. Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara villages and the Mandan Chief Four Bears dies of the deadly disease
1849: Cholera and smallpox epidemics led to the extermination of many Mandan and the destruction of their villages
1850: The depleting number of Mandans formed alliances with the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes
1851: The Treaty at Fort Laramie made agreements to the territories of the Mandan, Arikara and Hidatsa tribes
1860's: Attacks by the Sioux increase
1866: The Three Tribes negotiate the Treaty of 1866 with the US and lose more lands on the northeast side of the Missouri River
1870: The tribe was moved to their present reservation at Fort Berthold together with the Hidatsa and Mandan tribes
1876: The Great Sioux War of 1876 - 1877 - the Mandan refuse to become involved
1876: The Buffalo War - Buffalo are wantonly slaughtered all over the Great Plains (over 65 million were destroyed by white hunters) depriving the Native Indians of their means to live
1889: The last Mandan Sun dance (Okipa) ceremony is held
Mandan History Timeline
The Story of Mandan
For additional facts and information about legends refer to the Mandan Story of Four Bears.
Mandan
- Interesting Facts and information about the way the people lived
- The clothes worn by men and women
- Description of the homes and the type of food the Mandan would eat
- Fast Facts and info about the Mandan
- Names of famous chiefs and leaders
- Interesting Homework resource for kids on the history of the Mandan Native American Indians
Pictures and Videos of Native American Indians and their Tribes
The Mandan Tribe was one of the most famous tribes of the Great Plains Native American Indians. Discover the vast selection of pictures on the subject of the tribes of Famous Native Americans such as the Mandan nation. The pictures show the clothing, war paint, weapons and decorations of various Native Indian tribes, such as the Mandan tribe, that can be used as a really useful educational resource for kids and children of all ages. We hope you enjoy watching the video - just click and play - a great social studies homework resource for kids .