The Nakota resided mainly along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.
Their original land base was considered to be east to Lake Michigan, south to north central Iowa, west to the prairie, and north into the big woods. The SMSC is one of the four Eastern Dakota bands collectively called the Santee. Dakota, Lakota, and Nakota are the dialects. We call ourselves “Dakota” people, meaning “friends” or “allies.” There are three main bands of the Great Dakota Nation, separated only by dialect and geography.
