Location
Dakota County This county, established October 27, 1849, was named for the Dakota people, meaning an alliance or league. Under this name are comprised a large number of allied and affiliated Indian tribes, who originally occupied large parts of Minnesota and adjoining states. The Dakota called themselves collectively by this name, but they have been frequently termed Sioux, this being a contraction from the appellation Nadouesioux, given with various spellings by Pierre E. Radisson, Father Louis Hennepin, and Robert Cavalier, sieur de la Salle , a term evidently of Algonquianorigin, adopted by the early French explorers and traders.Radisson says (Voyages, p. 154) that the first part of the Algonquian name for the Dakota, spelled, in the translation of his manuscript, Nadoneceronons, means an enemy. Rev. Moses N. Adams informed me that the Dakota dislike to be called Sioux and much prefer their own collective name, borne by this county, which implies friendship or even brotherly love. From: Upham, Warren. Minnesota Place Names: A Geographical Encyclopedia. St. Paul, MN: Minnesota Historical Society Press, First edition 1920. Third Edition 2001. Print.
