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The Hidatsa's are sometimes called the "Minitari or Grosventre."  They are a tribe Siouan language and Plains culture area.  The name Hidatsa was first used in the middle of the 19th century, it was derived from the name of a tribal village.  They lived along the upper part of the Missouri River.  Until a smallpox epidemic in 1837 killed many of the Hidatsa's.  The remainder of them moved closer to the trading post Fort Berthold.

They lived in earth lodges within sizable villages.  They were agricultural people, they cultivated corn as their main crop.  They maintained complex social organization with elaborate rituals.  They held annual buffalo hunt and practice of sun dances.  They were closely allied with the neighboring tribes, Mandan and Arikara.

In 1990 1,570 Hidatsa's resided.  Most of them were at Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota.

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                1994