“Arapaho: Plains Indian people of Algonquian language stock who lived along the Platte and Arkansas rivers in the 19th century. Like other Plains groups, the Arapaho were nomadic, living in teepees and depending on the buffalo for subsistence. They were highly religious and practiced the sun dance. Their social organization included age-graded military societies as well as men’s shamanistic societies. They traded with the Mandan and Arikara and were often at war with the Shoshone, Ute, and Pawnee. A southern branch was long allied with the Cheyenne and fought with them against Colonel G.A. Custer at Little Bighorn in 1876. Today about 2,000 Arapaho live in Wyoming and another 3,000 Arapaho/Cheyenne in Oklahoma.”
Excerpted from: Stevens, Mark A., Ed. Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Encyclopedia. Springfield, Massachusetts: Merriam-Webster, 2000.
Mark's Text Terminal 