MANDAN

city, seat of Morton county, southwest-central North Dakota, U.S. It lies across the Missouri River from the state capital, Bismarck. The settlement was established in 1873 with the survey for the Northern Pacific Railway and was named for the local Indian tribe. The community developed as a service centre for ranching, dry farming, and dairying. It is known for its livestock auctions. Industries include oil refineries, creameries, and the manufacture of building materials. The Northern Great Plains Research Center, one of the nation's largest agricultural research facilities, is just south of the city. There are lignite deposits in the area. Fort Lincoln State Park, 5 miles (8 km) to the south, includes reconstructed blockhouses of Fort Lincoln, which was commanded by Lieutenant Colonel George A. Custer before his last stand at the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876). Inc. 1881. Pop. (1990) 15,177. North American Plains Indian people of Siouan linguistic stock who lived along the Missouri River between the Heart and the Little Missouri rivers. They were linguistically related to the Winnebago, and a vague tradition suggested that they had once lived farther east. Mandan culture was one of the richest of the Plains. In the 19th century the Mandan lived in dome-shaped, earth-covered lodges clustered in stockaded villages; they planted corn (maize), beans, pumpkins, and sunflowers, hunted buffalo seasonally, and made pottery and baskets. They had elaborate ceremonies, among them the sun dance and the Okipa, four-day festivals requiring long preparation. There were many other ceremonies that were performed by smaller groups; the bear ceremony was connected with healing and with war power. Mandan villages consisted of from 12 to 100 lodges; they had three chiefs: one for war, one for peace, and one a village leader. Their social organization included age-graded warrior societies in which membership was obtained by purchase. There were also social, shamanistic, and women's societies. Mandan artists painted on buffalo robes, depicting heroic deeds of the tribe or of individuals. In 1750 there were nine large Mandan villages, but recurrent epidemics of smallpox and cholera reduced them to two by 1800. In 1837 another smallpox epidemic left only 100150 survivors. Some of them accompanied the Hidatsa to Fort Berthold in 1845; others following later. In the late 20th century the total Mandan population reported on the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota was about 350.