Word: arikara
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...thing that finished off the early agricultural Indians was smallpox. The villagers along the river-the Mandans, Hidatsa, Arikara, et al.-held off nomadic enemies by means of their greater numbers, their fortifications and their superior culture. But when the first whites brought smallpox, the Indians were especially vulnerable. The plague swept through their densely built-up villages and killed most of their inhabitants. The Sioux were not hit as hard. When the disease appeared, the Sioux scattered, each family for itself, until the epidemic had subsided. Then, still strong, the nomads attacked the weakened villages and destroyed most...