Gros Ventre

The Gros Ventre (pronounced grow VAHNT, French ' Big belly '), also known as Atsina, are a Native American tribe of the Algonquian language family from northern Montana in the United States. The name Fat belly was given to them by the French, who interpreted their sign language wrong.

Naming

The Gros Ventre called themselves A'ani, A'anini or Ahahnelin ( pronounced ah -ha - NEE - nin ), which means ' people of the white clay (earth) '. The name probably comes from the Atsina allied Blackfoot and means ' Courageous people ,' while of the related Arapaho who felt superior to these, contemptuously Hitunena -. ' Beggar ' or ' parasites ' were called Since the French misinterpretierten this name in the sign language of the Plains as fats bellies, they described this as Gros Ventres vortan (fats bellies ). When the Gros Ventre covered entirely on the Plains, this by the French as Gens de Vache ( buffalo people ) were called. They were also still under the following names: case Indians, Gros Ventre of the Prairie, Minnetarees of Fort de Prairie, Rapid Indians, White Clay People.

Way of life

They belonged to the culture of the Plains Indians and their main food source was the American bison. Even in the middle of the 19th century lived on the Great Plains of North America some 60 million animals. Before the Gros Ventre had horses, they sat on the hunt a buffalo herd to panic. The in wild flight running away animals were forced into a V-shape and driven to the edge of a cliff from which they plunged into the depths. In such places every year found thousands of buffaloes death, often so large amounts that the Gros Ventre the many meat could not consume, although part of it dried and was processed as winter supplies to pemmican. The skins are used as curtains for the tepees and clothing. After the adaptation of the horse and Firearms, the Plain culture reached its zenith. The greater mobility of the horse generally improved the quality of life, there were larger tipis built and more food to be transported.

History

The Arapaho and Gros Ventre were once a single tribe and lived in the valley of the Red River in northern Minnesota and adjacent Canada. In the early 17th century, the Gros Ventre split off and Arapaho moved south. At the time of first contact with Europeans to 1754, the Gros Ventre were living in the Canadian prairies at the headwaters of the Saskatchewan River and its tributaries. They were long-time enemies of the Assiniboine and Cree and had to flee from them, because their enemies had received firearms from the Hudson 's Bay Company. Then, the Gros Ventre attacked in 1793, the establishment of the Hudson's Bay Company in South Branch House on the South Saskatchewan River near present-day St. Louis and burned it down. Then the tribe moved south to the Milk River and combined with the Blackfoot. Around 1870 broke the alliance with the Blackfoot and Gros Ventre had with their former enemies, search the southern Assiniboine protection.

Reservation

From the U.S. government in 1878, the Fort Belknap Reservation, had been set up, which now had to deal with their former enemies, the Assiniboine, share members of the Gros Ventre. In 1888, the Blackfoot, Assiniboine and Gros Ventre ceded their land and moved to reservations. In 1904 there were only 535 members of the tribe. 1990 counted the total population of Fort Belknap 1,200 people, of which only 111 their mother tongue languages ​​. The census of all the Gros Ventre in 2000 resulted in 2,881 tribal members. Today, the 3,682 tribal members live in the Fort - Belknap Reservation, which they still share with the Assiniboine.