South Dakota South Dakota South Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is named after the Lakota and Dakota Sioux Native American tribes, who compose a large portion of the population and historically dominated the territory. South Dakota is the seventeenth largest by area, but the fifth smallest by population and the 5th least densely populated of the 50 United States. As the southern part of the former Dakota Territory, South Dakota became a state on November 2, 1889, simultaneously with North Dakota. Pierre is the state capital and Sioux Falls, with a population
South Dakota State Guard at his or her discretion, making reactivation possible either through an act of legislature or by executive order. South Dakota State Guard The South Dakota State Guard is the currently inactive state defense force of South Dakota. The State Guard is recognized as a military force separate from the South Dakota National Guard. Unlike the National Guard, the State Guard is a purely state-level military force under the command of the Governor of South Dakota, and cannot be federalized or deployed outside the borders of the state. The South Dakota State Guard was active during World War I, World War