The term Siouan is the adjective denoting the "Sioux" Indians and cognate tribes. The word "Sioux" has been variously and vaguely used. Originally it was a corruption of a term expressing enmity or contempt, applied to a part of the plains tribes by the forest-dwelling Algonquian Indians. The Indians of the Siouan stock occupied the central portion of the continent. They were preeminently plains Indians, ranging from Lake Michigan to the Rocky Mountains, and from the Arkansas to the Saskatchewan, while an outlying body stretched to the shores of the Atlantic. Contents: The Siouan Stock Definition Extent of the Stock Tribal Nomenclature Principal Characters Phonetic and Graphic Arts Industrial and Esthetic Arts Institutions Beliefs The Development of Mythology The Siouan Mythology Somatology Habitat Organization History Dakota-Asiniboin Winnebago Mandan Hidatsa The Eastern and Southern Tribes General Movements Some Features of Indian Sociology