Mako sica - Lakota

Les mauvaises terres - French

The Badlands - English

When the Lakota looked on the land around you, they saw the Paha ska (white hills)-a place of bountiful hunting. Historically used for transitory camps, the Paha ska and their western counterpart the Paha sapa (black hills) lie in the heart of Lakota treaty lands set aside in 1868.

French trappers in the mid-1700s, frustrated by the land's sharp peaks and crumbling rock, regarded the area as les mauvaises terres (bad lands).The Lakota also began calling this place Mako sica (land bad).

Picture Captions:


Lakota men-Badlands 1905
Photographer Edward Curtis images provide glimpses of Native American lifeways across the United States at the turn of the 20th century.


Canadian badlands-Alberta, Canada
Badland formations are found on every continent. A visit to the White River Badlands of South Dakota is a tribute to the origin of the term: dry climate, sedentary rocks, canyons, and pinnacles. Welcome to the definitive Badlands.

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