Ohiyesa (Dr. Charles Eastman), from The Soul of the Indian, 1911.
According to many, the area now known as Minnesota has been called "home" by Dakota people for thousands of years. For hundreds of years the Santee (or Eastern) Dakota moved their villages and varied their work according to the seasons. They spent the winter living off the stores of supplies built up during the previous year. Women gathered wood, processed hides, and made clothes while men hunted and fished. In the spring, villages dispersed and men left on hunting parties, while women, children, and the elderly moved into sugaring camps to make maple sugar and syrup. During the summer months families gathered in villages and men hunted and fished while women and children cultivated crops such as corn, squash, and beans. Once the corn had been harvested, families focused on gathering wild rice along the rivers. In autumn, families moved to the year's chosen hunting grounds for the annual hunt. This traditional lifestyle of communal support was the basis for Dakota society and culture.
Read more about Dakota values in Beginning Dakota/Tokaheya Dakota Iyapi Kin and Dakota connection to the land at the Bdote Memory Map.