thumb|upright=1.4|alt=Map of Siouxland from the endpapers of the novel "This Is the Year" by Feike Feikema (Frederick Manfred), who defined "this area where state lines have not been important" and coined the name in 1946|Map of Siouxland from the novel "This Is the Year" by Feike Feikema (Frederick Manfred), who defined "this area where state lines have not been important" and coined the name in 1946
Siouxland is a vernacular region that encompasses the entire Big Sioux River drainage basin in the U.S. states of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska and Iowa. The demonym for a resident of Siouxland is Siouxlander.
A "vernacular region" is a distinctive area where the inhabitants collectively consider themselves interconnected by a shared history, mutual interests, and a common identity. Such regions are "intellectual inventions" and a form of shorthand to identify things, people, and places. Vernacular regions reflect a "sense of place," but rarely coincide with established jurisdictional borders.—
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The cock robin winged on, north.
At last, in late March, he arrived in Siouxland. He wheeled over the oak-crested, doming hills north of Sioux City, flew up the Big Sioux River, resting in elms and basswoods....
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Time magazine, reviewing the novel on 31 March 1947, introduced Siouxland to its readers by quoting from the book: "By a river in the Siouxland he stood weeping." By the summer of 1948, Alex Stoddard, sports editor of the Sioux City Journal, had begun referring to "Siouxland teams."
"Just where is Siouxland?" The answer varies geographically. Like most vernacular regions, Siouxland is more-or-less where one wants it to be—or where popular perception places it.