Sacajawea

Sacajawea, the titular character of the novel, acts as the meta-fictional narrator for about one half of the novel. She is presented as one of two principle protagonists in the novel. Her exact date of birth is not offered in the novel but can be assumed to be c. 1788; she is living at the novel's conclusion c. 1810. Sacajawea was born a Lemhi Shoshone near the Three Forks region (today near Salmon, Idaho). In c. 1800 at the age of about twelve she was kidnapped by a group of Hidatsa, or Minnetaree, Indians. Several Shoshones were killed in the action and several girls and women beside Sacajawea were kidnapped. She was transported as a captive to the region of the Mandan Indian villages. After about one year of captivity doing slave labor, Sacajawea was won in a gambling match by Toussaint Charbonneau, a Quebec-born trapper living in the village. At...