Sacagawea (Sakakawea, Sacajawea, Sacajewea; see below) (c. 1787 – December 20, 1812 or April 9, 1884) was a Shoshone woman who accompanied the Corps of Discovery with Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.

Birth

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Sacagawea was born to a tribe of Shoshone between Kenney Creek and Agency Creek, near Tendoy, Idaho near what is now Lemhi County, Idaho ^*. However, in 1800, when she was about 11 or 12, she was kidnapped by a group of Hidatsa, and taken to their village near the present Washburn, North Dakota. She therefore grew up culturally affiliated with this tribe; some believe her name is taken from the Hidatsa phrase for "bird woman." She was named so because when she was born, a flock of white birds flew overhead. The origins and proper pronunciation of her name has become a great point of controversy and contention among interested historians and her brother Cameahwait's descendants (Sacagawea has no known direct descendants).

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