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Population composition
The first substantial communities in South Dakota were built over more than a millennium by the village-dwelling ancestors of the Mandan and of the Arikara. Their economy combined farming with the hunting and gathering of wild foods. By the early 18th century they were feeling considerable pressure from various groups of Northeast Indians, who were being displaced by European encroachment; these included Sioux peoples as well as the Omaha and the Ponca. Although the Mandan relocated in the 18th century, the Arikara remained in South Dakota until 1832.
Beginning in the 1740s, 13 Sioux tribes abandoned land in what is now east-central Minnesota and settled on the Prairie Plains and Great Plains areas of South Dakota. Members of the Yankton tribe and some Yanktonais claimed most of the eastern portion of South Dakota, while seven Lakota tribes, together with Yanktonais, occupied the western region. In present-day South Dakota, there are nine reservations. Less than half of the state’s Native American population actually resides on these reservations, however. Many Sioux either live on the reservations only part-time or make frequent visits to them to participate in cultural events while taking advantage of employment and educational opportunities outside the reservations. Others have moved out of the state. The Sioux made up less than one-tenth of the population of South Dakota in the early 21st century.
About nine-tenths of the present-day South Dakota population is of European descent. The earliest settlers in South Dakota territory were British and French fur traders who entered the region either via the upper Mississippi valley or along the upper Missouri valley. Shortly thereafter, settlers from the Midwest and New England regions of the United States and immigrants from Europe arrived.
By the early 21st century, people of German ancestry constituted the largest ethnic group in South Dakota, accounting for about two-fifths of the population. The main German groups are Mennonites, Hutterites, and ethnic Germans who emigrated from Russia. The Mennonites are geographically concentrated in Freeman in southeastern South Dakota, where they maintain a religious academy. The Hutterites live in isolated colonies, most of them along the James River basin, where they engage in mechanized communal agriculture. For their refusal to support American involvement in World War I, all Hutterites in South Dakota, except those of the original colony established in Bon Homme county in 1874, were driven into temporary exile in Canada. In 1955 the Hutterites who had returned to South Dakota were threatened by a state law that prohibited the expansion of their colonies or the formation of additional communities. As a result, they have changed their legal status from church to corporation. Those of German ancestry who have emigrated from Russia are scattered from the Yankton area along the Missouri Plateau, but many are concentrated in three north-central counties.
People of Scandinavian ancestry constitute the next largest ethnic group, with those of Norwegian heritage residing mostly in the eastern region, while Swedish and Danish communities are found in the southeastern part of the state. Those of Czech (primarily Bohemian) descent live mainly in Bon Homme county in south-central South Dakota. Groups of Scots, Dutch, Finnish, and Welsh descendants reside in enclaves across the eastern part of the state.
Religion looms large in the history of South Dakota and the lives of South Dakotans. European immigrant groups established about half of the state’s churches. Their religious institutions not only promoted social solidarity but also played an important part in the acculturation process. Those of Irish, German, and Czech descent formed rural enclaves and supported ecclesiastical schools and hospitals, some of which survive. During the 1920s Catholics were the primary victims of attack by Ku Klux Klan groups in the state. Shunned by the Protestant majority in organized sports, Catholics formed a separate high school athletic conference in the 1920s that was not allowed to merge with the public school system until it was forced by the government to do so in 1966. The pronounced divide between the state’s Catholics and Protestants has been increasingly narrowed through ecumenical efforts, but each group has retained a distinctive culture. There are bishops at Sioux Falls and Rapid City, a Benedictine abbot at Blue Cloud Abbey, Benedictine nuns in Yankton, Presentation Sisters in Aberdeen, and the Oblate Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament in Marty. In the early 21st century the majority of the population was Lutheran; the next largest group was Roman Catholic. Other denominations included Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Baptist, and numerous smaller groups.
The remainder of the population consists of African Americans, Asians, and Hispanics. In the 21st century people from the Middle East and Africa immigrated to the state. There is also a small Jewish community, and immigration has increased the number of Orthodox and Islam adherents.
Settlement patterns
By the late 20th century, the state had changed from a predominantly rural to a more urban state (more than half the population is urban). As a result, by the end of the 1990s, about two-thirds of its counties had experienced a decrease in population, while many urban centres had grown—particularly those of Sioux Falls, Aberdeen, Mitchell, Yankton, Pierre, and Rapid City. In general, except for the Black Hills region, the western part of the state is sparsely populated, in contrast to the northeastern and southeastern counties, where population density is four or five times greater.
Demographic trends
Most of South Dakota’s rural areas had reached their peak populations by the 1920s. Throughout the rest of the 20th century, those counties lost population because of low birth rates and an out-migration of younger people to urban areas or out of state. The counties with greater Sioux populations experienced some population growth, however, as these communities tended to have a higher birth rate.