Dakota people in the Mankato ("Maka To" – Earth Blue/Blue Earth) region of southwestern Minnesota along the Blue Earth River. Contemporary Sioux people are also listed under the tribes to which they belong: Dakota people The Dakota people are a Native American tribe and First Nations band government in North America. They compose two of the three main subcultures of the Sioux people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota. The Eastern Dakota are the Santee ("Isáŋyathi" or "Isáŋ-athi"; "knife" + "encampment", ″dwells at the place of knife flint″), who reside in the eastern Dakotas, central Minnesota
Native American identity in the United States "the question of who is 'more' or 'most' Indian may draw people away from common concerns." In some cases, one's opinion about one's self is sufficient to define one as Indian. One can often choose to identify as Indian without outside verification when filling out a census form, a college application, or writing a letter to the editor of a newspaper. A "self-identified Indian" is a person who may not satisfy the legal requirements which define a Native American according to the United States government or a single tribe, but who understands and expresses her own identity as Native American.