User:KatF91/New sandbox

For 11,000 years, Native Americans have used this area for their hunting grounds. Long before the Lakota were the paleo-Indians, followed by the Arikara people. Their descendants live today in North Dakota as a part of the Three Affiliated Tribes. Archaeological records combined with oral traditions indicate that these people camped in secluded valleys where fresh water and game were available year-round. Eroding out of the stream banks today are the rocks and charcoal of their campfires, as well as the arrowheads and tools they used to butcher bison, rabbits, and other game. From the top of the Badlands Wall, they could scan the area for enemies and wandering herds. If hunting was good, they might hang on into winter, before retracing their way to their villages along the Missouri River. Badlands National Park is located just North of the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation and was first referred to as Upper Medicine Root by the Lakota peoples. The Lakota people were the first to call this place "mako sica", which translates to — literally — "badlands". Extreme temperatures, lack of water, and the exposed rugged terrain led to this name. French-Canadian fur trappers called it "les mauvaises terres pour traverser," or "bad lands to travel through." By one hundred and fifty years ago, the Great Sioux Nation consisting of seven bands including the Oglala Lakota, had displaced the other tribes from the northern prairie.

The Sioux Treaty of 1868 created the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation where the Lakota families were forced to move when their lands were taken by the U.S. government. Lakota families lived a homestead lifestyle and were subsidized by the U.S. government to sell their cattle. In July 1942, the Lakota families were forced to move again as the War Department decided that South Dakota was selected to form the Badlands Gunnery Range for military operations and training. The Lakota families were forced to leave within 10-30 days of notice and only able to take what they could carry, forcing them to leave everything else behind. Many families moved to Rapid City, Nebraska, or other areas to work on farms.