Stage 1: Introducing South Dakota's Tribal Nations

STEP 1

Welcome & Land Acknowledgment

South Dakota is the homeland of the Oceti Sakowin — the Seven Council Fires — the Lakota, Dakota, and Nakota peoples who have lived here since time immemorial. Today, 9 federally recognized Tribal nations call South Dakota home.

These nations are part of two main cultural groupings:

Lakota (6 nations) - Western SD, "allies" or "friends" in the western dialect
Dakota and Nakota (3 nations) - Eastern SD, related peoples of the Oceti Sakowin

💡 Did You Know?

Oceti Sakowin means "Seven Council Fires" — it refers to the seven original divisions of the Great Sioux Nation. Each Tribal nation is sovereign, meaning they have their own government, laws, and services, just like a state or country.

STEP 2

Start Your HTML Document

Every webpage starts with the same basic structure. Let's create the foundation of your page.

👉 Type this in the code editor → <!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
</html>

What does this mean?

<!DOCTYPE html> - The very first line of every webpage. It tells the browser "this file uses HTML5" so it knows exactly how to read and display what follows.
<html> - The opening tag that wraps your entire webpage. Everything your visitors will ever see lives inside these two tags.
</html> - The closing tag. Notice the forward slash / — that's how you tell the browser "this element ends here."

🎯 Important Rule

Every opening tag needs a closing tag! The closing tag has a forward slash: </html>. If you forget to close a tag, the browser will try to guess where it ends — and usually gets it wrong.

STEP 3

Add the Head Section

The <head> section contains information about your page that doesn't show on the page itself.

👉 Add this INSIDE your <html> tags: <head>
<title>South Dakota's Tribal Nations</title>
</head>

The <head> is the "backstage" of your webpage. The <title> inside it sets the text that appears in your browser tab — it's also what shows up as the clickable headline when your page appears in Google search results.

STEP 4

Add the Body Section

The <body> section contains everything that's visible on your webpage.

👉 Add this AFTER your </head> tag: <body>
<h1>South Dakota's 9 Tribal Nations</h1>
</body>

The <body> is where everything visitors see on your page lives. <h1> stands for "heading level 1" — the largest, most important heading on the page. Watch the preview panel → your heading should appear right away!

STEP 5

Add Information About Lakota Nations

Let's add a section about the Lakota people — the six nations of western South Dakota.

Cheyenne River Sioux

Dewey & Ziebach Counties

Crow Creek Sioux

Buffalo County

Lower Brule Sioux

Lyman County

Oglala Sioux Tribe

Oglala Lakota County

Rosebud Sioux Tribe

Todd County

Standing Rock Sioux

Corson & Sioux Counties

👉 Add this INSIDE your <body> tags (after the <h1>): <h2>Lakota Nations</h2>
<p>There are 6 Lakota communities across South Dakota.</p>

<h2> is a section heading — one level below <h1>. Use it to label the main sections of your page. <p> stands for "paragraph" and wraps any block of regular text.

STEP 6

Add Information About Dakota and Nakota Nations

Now let's add the Dakota and Nakota communities of eastern South Dakota.

Flandreau Santee Sioux

Moody County

Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate

Roberts County

Yankton Sioux Tribe

Charles Mix County

👉 Add this after your Lakota section: <h2>Dakota and Nakota Nations</h2>
<p>There are 3 Dakota and Nakota communities in eastern South Dakota.</p>

STEP 7

Make It Your Own!

Now it's your turn to add more content. Try adding:

Another <h2> heading with a Tribal nation's name
A <p> paragraph with information about them
An <h3> heading (even smaller than h2)

🌟 You Did It!

You just built your first webpage and learned about South Dakota's Tribal nations. In the next stage, we'll add lists and more structure!