The Dakota Territory was named for the the Dakota Indian Tribe which lived in the region. Dakota was kept as part of the name when North Dakota and South Dakota became states.
Dakota is a branch of the Sioux Indian Nation which is generally divided into three branches by dialect, the Santee, the Yankton and the Lakota. The Dakota Territory was known by Washington...
It was a suitable way to divide up the Territory into appropriate state sized parcels. The Dakota Territory would have been too large to effectively govern considering the nature of transportation in...