Why is there a South Dakota and North Dakota?

Answer 1

North Dakota and South Dakota were originally one territory called "Dakota Territory" for the Dakota Sioux tribe which lived in the region. Dakota is the Sioux word for "friends" or "allies."

When it came time for statehood for the Dakota Territory, there were several different proposals for splitting the Dakota Territory into states, based mainly on the fact that the population centers were so far apart.

In 1889, the US Congress approved the boundary between North Dakota and South Dakota allowing the two sections to become states on November 2, 1889.

Answer 2

It was a part of Dakota Territory that was divided by an east to west line that created two roughly equal parcels of land with one located in the north of the former territory and one to the south. Name selection seemed logical.

Answer 3

North Dakota and South Dakota are parts of land acquired in the Louisiana purchase. They ended up as two distinct states due to a political conflict at the time statehood was announced that related to the building of the transcontinental railway. See the attached link.

Because if the Dakota Territory had been kept as one state the distance to travel to the capital would have been impractical in 1889.

Answer 4

Dakota is a branch of the Sioux Indian Nation which is generally divided into three branches by dialect, the Santee, the Yankton and the Lakota. The Dakota Territory was known by Washington bureaucrats as the Land of the Dakota Indians although their traditional lands extended much farther to the west and deep into Canada.

Answer 5

Before becoming a US state, South Dakota was part of the Dakota Territory. When it came time to name the two new states, the states kept the Dakota name and used North and South to designate the individual state.

Dakota was chosen for the name of the Dakota Territory because it was the name of the band of Native Americans who lived in that area.

Answer 6

it is south and north DAKOTA because it was named after the Dacotah Indian tribe

Answer 7

The Dakota Territory was named for the the Dakota Indian Tribe which lived in the region. Dakota was kept as part of the name when North Dakota and South Dakota became states.