About South Dakota

South Dakota is a state of dramatic contrasts. East of the Missouri River, it is flat, fertile, and agricultural , an extension of the Corn Belt where Sioux Falls has quietly grown into one of the most economically dynamic mid-sized cities in the country. West of the Missouri, everything changes: the land rises into pine-covered hills, volcanic rock formations, and the alien terrain of the Badlands, a landscape that looks like nothing else on earth.

South Dakota's history is defined by the collision between westward American expansion and the Lakota Sioux, one of the most powerful Indigenous nations in North America. The Black Hills, seized in violation of a federal treaty, became the site of Mount Rushmore, one of the most iconic images in American history. The land claim dispute that followed produced a $1.3 billion uncollected court judgment that the Lakota refuse to accept because they want the land, not the money.

Modern South Dakota is reliably Republican, increasingly prosperous in Sioux Falls, home to a powerful credit card industry, and slowly grappling with the legacy of Wounded Knee and the ongoing poverty of its reservation communities, which remain among the most economically distressed places in the United States.