A great many group activities center at the schools and churches, where take place the usual athletic, social, and religious events and gatherings found in white communities. HISTORY The Atlantic seaboard Colonies still constituted the American frontier on the April day in 1682 when the intrepid Sieur de la Salle, in the presence of a company of uncomprehending red men, took possession of the lands drained by the Mississippi River "in the name of the Most High, Mighty, Invincible, and Victorious Prince, Louis the Great, by the Grace of God, King of France and Navarre, Fourteenth of that name." His words figuratively raised the flag of France over a vast territory which included more than half of what is now North Dakota. Two other European nations were to own parts of this State, and it was to be identified with nine United States Territories before actually becoming a member of the Union in 1889. La Salle's _Procès Verbal_ claimed for France the vast lands in the drainage basins of the Mississippi and its tributaries. All of this territory was ceded to Spain in 1762, to repay her for losses suffered as an ally of France. Adjustments of territorial possessions having been made between Spain and England, however, France "suggested" that Spain cede back the lands, which she reluctantly did in 1800. The Louisiana Purchase was negotiated in 1803, and the United States came into possession of the Mississippi basin, including the southwestern half of North Dakota. The northeastern part of the State, drained by the Red and Souris Rivers, was acquired from Great Britain in 1818, when a treaty fixed the Canadian-United States boundary at the Forty-ninth Parallel. As the growth of the Nation extended westward, this State successively became part of the Louisiana, Great Northwest, Missouri, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, and finally Dakota Territories. For the three years from the formation of Minnesota to the creation of Dakota Territory, from 1858-61, almost all of the present State lying east of the Missouri was unorganized territory, without formal government of any kind. Dakota Territory extended from the Canadian border to the Forty-third Parallel, and from Minnesota and Iowa to the main ridge of the Rockies. When Wyoming Territory was created in 1868 the present western boundary of the Dakotas was fixed, and the southern boundary of the Territory was settled in 1882. In the general election of 1887 residents voted that the Seventh Standard Parallel divide Dakota Territory into two States. President Benjamin Harrison signed the bills admitting North and South Dakota to statehood November 2, 1889: while he signed them, both documents were covered except for the signature space, so that it can never be known which of the twin Dakotas is the elder. The two States derive their names from the Santee Sioux word _dakota_, which means "allies." THE EARLY WHITE EXPLORERS