The Cartographic Heritage of the Lakota Sioux

This article serves as an introduction to traditional cartographic tools and techniques of the Lakota Sioux people of the northern Great Plains. The study reveals that the Lakota created maps and utilized other cartographic tools that, while not following a western system of coordinates, grids, and scales, were nonetheless accurate instruments for navigation to important routes, landmarks, hunting grounds, and sacred sites. The tools and techniques utilized included oral transmission of cartographic data, stories and songs in the oral tradition, stellar cartography, hide maps, petroglyphs, earth scratchings, and various other physical and spiritual markers.