For centuries humans have viewed South Dakota's celebrated Badlands with a mix of dread and fascination. The Lakota knew the place as "mako sica". Early French trappers called the area "les mauvaises terres a traverser". Both mean "bad lands." Conservation writer Freeman Tilden described the region as "peaks and valleys of delicately banded colors - colors that shift in the sunshine... and a thousand tints that color charts do not show.
The earliest people to come into this area were ancient mammoth hunters. Much later they were followed by nomadic tribes whose lives centered on bison hunting. The Arikara was the first tribe known to have inhabited the White River area. By the mid 18th century, they were replaced by the Sioux, or Lakota, who adopted the use of horses from the Spaniards and came to dominate the region.
In 1978, Congress has established the Badlands as an official national park because of its outstanding outdoor scenery, beauty, and wildlife.
The earliest people to come into this area were ancient mammoth hunters. Much later they were followed by nomadic tribes whose lives centered on bison hunting. The Arikara was the first tribe known to have inhabited the White River area. By the mid 18th century, they were replaced by the Sioux, or Lakota, who adopted the use of horses from the Spaniards and came to dominate the region.
In 1978, Congress has established the Badlands as an official national park because of its outstanding outdoor scenery, beauty, and wildlife.