Description 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 /su/ people, and are typically divided into the Eastern Dakota and the Western Dakota.The Eastern Dakota are the Santee (Isyathi or Is-athi; 'knife' + 'encampment'), who reside in the eastern Dakotas, central Minnesota and northern Iowa. The Western Dakota are the Yankton, and the Yanktonai (Ihktuwa and Ihktuwana; 'Village-at-the-end' and 'Little village-at-the-end'), who reside in the Missouri River area. The Yankton-Yanktonai are collectively also referred to by the endonym Wihyena, and have in the past been erroneously classified as Nakota.