SIOUAN (s(743'un) STOCK. One of the most widely extended and important linguistic groups of North America, occupying within the recent historic period the greater portion of the Plains area, but in earlier times holding also the coast and midland region of Virginia and the Caro linas, with outlying tribes upon the Gulf coast. The universal tradition of the various tribes of the stock, as well as of their Algonquian neigh bors, with historical and more particularly lin guistic evidence, establishes the fact that their original home was east of the Alleghanies in the South Atlantic region. When or why the first emigrants crossed over the mountains' into the central region of the Ohio Valley is not known. It was probably brought about by the pressure of Iroquoian tribes from the north and of Musk hogean tribes from the west. It was not so remote but that the Osage, Quapaw, Omaha, Mandan, and Sioux have clear traditions of former residence upon the Ohio, followed by a westward move ment down that stream and then down the Mis sitksippi or up the Missouri to their later habita tions. The Ohio itself was known among the neighboring Algonquian tribes as the river of the Qua paw, although when first known to his tory the Quapaw were already established upon the Arkansas. The tribal names Quapaw and Omaha, in their original form. denote respectively the people who went down or up stream from the separation point near the entrance of the Missouri. The Winnebago and Sioux apparently
moved northwest across Illinois, the former fix ing themselves about the lake of their name in southern Wisconsin, while the Sioux continued on toward the head of the Mississippi until com pelled to turn westward by the pressure of the Ojibwa advancing from the direction of Mack inac. The expulsion of the Sioux from northern Wisconsin and the head of the Mississippi by the Ojibwa and their consequent emergence upon the plains and occupation of the Upper .Missouri and the Black Hills are all within the historic period. Several tribes continued in their ancient seats, where they were known to the early col onists under the names of Monacan, Manaaboac, Saponi, Tutelo, Occaneeehi, Catawba. Biloxi, and so on. All of these, excepting a mere handful of Catawba and three or four families of Biloxi, have become extinct within the historic period, chiefly from the relentless hostility of the Iro quois supplemented by dissipation and disease due to contact with civilization.
The Siouan tribes in 1503 numbered a little more than 40,000, including about 1850 Sioux and Assiniboin in the Northwest Territories of Canada. Of the entire more than 24,000 belong to the Sioux nation.