Arikara (also Sahnish, Arikaree, Ree) are a group of Native Americans who speak the Arikara language, a member of the Caddoan language family.

Arikara is close to the Pawnee language, but they are not mutually intelligible.They are a semi-nomadic people who live on the Great Plains of the United States of America for several hundred years.

They live primarily in earth lodges, make tipis as temporary shelter while traveling from their villages, and are an agricultural society.

Their primary crop is corn (or maize).The Arikara move from South Dakota into North Dakota in response to pressure from other tribes and European American settlers.

They are now on the Fort Berthold reservation.Their population is decimated by smallpox in the late 1830s.During the Black Hills War, Arikara serve as scouts for Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer in the Little Bighorn Campaign.Due to their reduced numbers, the Arikara start to live closer to the Mandan and Hidatsa tribes, who live in the same area.

Today the three tribes are closely associated and known as the Three Affiliated Tribes, with a total enrolled population of 8400.

Nearly 3800 live on the Fort Berthold Reservation.