Mandan (people)

Mandan (people), North American tribe of the Siouan language family, and of the Great Plains culture area. The tribe was first seen by Europeans in the 18th century at the mouth of the Heart River on the lower Missouri, when the Mandan were a great and powerful people. Agricultural rather than nomadic, they had stockaded villages. They tattooed the face and breast and had several elaborate ceremonies. Their number was vastly diminished by a smallpox epidemic in 1837. In the 2000 U.S. census about 400 people identified themselves as Mandan only; an additional 900 people reported being part Mandan. Almost half were settled on Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota. See also Native Americans of North America: Great Plains.