'place where two rivers meet' or 'confluence'; deprecated spelling Mdote[2]) is a significant[1] Dakota sacred landscape where the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers meet, encompassing Pike Island, Fort Snelling, Coldwater Spring, Indian Mounds Park, and surrounding areas in present-day Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States.

[2] Numerous creation stories within the Dakota communities define their relationships with the land and the stars above, including the sacred sites in Bdote.

[1] In one version, the Big Dipper represents the seven bands of the Dakota and Lakota, collectively known as the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires).

[6] According to another, told by Gwen Westerman, the Dakota came from Orion's Belt and through the Creator, they walked Caŋku Wanagi, the “spirit road" (Milky Way), and arrived at Bdote, later spreading out to establish the sacred sites in the surrounding areas.

[11] A newborn baby's first cry is referred to as bdote, which compares the importance of a person's first breath of air with the necessity of water for life.

Lakota Chief Arvol Looking Horse noted during a pipe ceremony on Pilot Knob Preservation (Oheyawahi) that these sacred sites are how Dakota people connect spiritually to the wider landscape.

Prairie Island Dakota spiritual leader Chris Leith has said that Bdote's many sacred sites make it a "vortex" in the landscape.

[14][11] According to Dakota oral tradition, burial mounds were built along the bluffs to be close to the river of waterfalls and the spirit road.

As the only natural portage on the Mississippi River in the area, it was considered neutral territory and a practical meeting place for numerous tribes (including the Dakota, Hochunk and, later, the Ojibwe).

[16] Wita Wanagi was a birthing place for Dakota women and also home to the spirit of Anpetu Sapa Win ("Clouded Day Woman"), whose death song could still be heard on the island.

The exact area of wider Bdote varies by tradition, but generally encompasses Pike Island, Fort Snelling, Saint Anthony Falls, Coldwater Spring, and a stretch of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers.

[31] Two of the seven Dakota leaders agreed to sell the land, eventually receiving only $2,000 when it was valued by Pike at $200,000, along with the agreement to build a fort at the location.

[36] Dakota leader Gabriel Renville wrote: "We were so crowded and confined that an epidemic broke out among us and children were dying day and night.

[40] In 2021, Oglala Lakota chef Sean Sherman opened the restaurant Owamni at the site of Owámniyomni (Saint Anthony Falls); it serves dishes made only with ingredients indigenous to the Americas.

[44] The MHS board unanimously voted to continue with the current site name, citing no conclusive evidence to support renaming it from their research in the community.

[47] They are building the Wakan Tipi Center at the sanctuary, which will be an immersive way to learn Dakota history, lifeways, language, and values.

[48] Other goals include restoring Phalen Creek above ground and renaming Carver's Cave to the original Dakota name of Wakan Tipi.

[49] It is working with the city of Minneapolis for transfer of land surrounding the Upper Lock and Dam from the federal government (U.S. Army Corps of Engineers).

[50] Minnesota state poet laureate Gwen Westerman writes about Dakota culture, frequently featuring Bdote.

"[51] Author Heid E. Erdrich released the poem-film "Pre-Occupied", a critique of settler colonial themes in the Occupy Movement that alludes to Bdote's central role in the Dakota worldview.