
Sacagawea (Sakakawea) was thought to have been born to the Lehmi Shoshone
tribe in western Montana. A member of the Shoshonean-speaking group, she
was apparently captured by enemies on a raid and subsequently ended up
at the Hidatsa villages on the Missouri River in present-day North Dakota.
There, as was the custom of many tribes, the Hidatsa adopted her into
their culture. Therefore, it is accurate to say she was both Shoshone
and Hidatsa: Shoshone by birth and Hidatsa by culture.
|