South Dakota’s Arikara were the early inhabitants of the place in 1500s. Sioux and Cheyenne moved into the area in the 1700s. In early 1800s, the nomadic Sioux had forced all other tribes from South Dakota to move out. The only ones that remained in the area were the Arikara.

In 1682, René-Robert Cavelier supposedly claimed Louisiana River, which also have South Dakota included. French-Canadian observers and explorers who were along the Mississippi were the first white people who visited and even traveled along the Missouri River of South Dakota in1743.

Moreover, the United States in 1803 acquired the Louisiana state as part of the Louisiana Purchase from France. In the years 1804 up to 1806, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark of the famous Missouri River expedition partially explored the Louisiana Territory. They found abundant animals, which later on encouraged mos of the Fur companies in setting up some trading posts by the famous Big Sioux, Vermillion, James, and Missouri Rivers. The posts, which were founded, by Pierre Chouteau and the American Fur Company were the first bases for settlement. In 1856, two land companies were established at Sioux Falls. In 1859, Bon Hommej, Yankton and Vermillion were then laid out.

South Dakota’s European settlements began in1858. Wandering Sioux Indians who signed the peace treaties plus moved onto the reservations located on the eastern portion of the Missouri River. Congress in 1861 instituted the renowned Dakota Territory. This embraced not only the present-day North and South Dakota but also E Wyoming and E Montana.

Furthermore, in 1874 George A. Custer, a military man, discovered gold in Wyoming. This discovery made wealth seekers began to pour into the area. They built military posts. They also surveyed land to build a road through Sioux’s hunting grounds towards Wyoming.

When the Red Cloud’s War broke out from Sioux, there was a belief that their hunting grounds will be ruined. The Great Sioux Reservation was then created in 1868 through the Laramie Treaty. The treaty granted the Sioux South Dakota’s entire western portion of the Missouri River. Warfare again broke out. This is because Sioux refused to sell out either mining or the reservation.

General George Custer’s defeat in 1876 through the Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and the Gall in the famous battle of Little Bighorn did not actually prevent them in gradually acquiring a lot more land in Native America as well as the golden lined feature of the Black Hills. Another treaty was also later on signed in 1876, which gave the Black Hills area to the United States. Most of the Sioux were then sent to the western part of South Dakota.