Piegan Blackfeet

The Piegan, Canada usually Peigan (English pronunciation: " Peh - gan ", " Pee- GAN " or " pay- gone" ) or Piikuni (English pronunciation: " Pee- kah -nee " or " PIH - kuhn - ee " ) and usually called in the U.S. Piegan Blackfeet, constitute both one of three First Nations of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) south of the Canadian province of Alberta as well as a recognized at the federal level ( federally recognized) Indian tribe in northwestern Montana in the United States. The name derives from its self-description as Piikuni (English pronunciation: " pee- koo - NEE " ) or Piikáni ( other variants: Pikani, Pekuni, Piegan and Peigan ) and means literally - " Mangy, contaminated with scabies clothes ". They were the largest, most powerful and most southern tribe of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) and were therefore often referred to as Southern Blackfoot.

Culturally, historically and linguistically, they are closely related to the Siksika ( Blackfoot or Siksikáwa ) and the Kainai ( Blood or Káínawa ). All four strains were talking ( talk ) each slightly different dialects of the Plains Algonquian scoring Blackfoot ( Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin or Nitsipussin ) and call themselves Ni- tsi - ta -pi- ksi or Ni- tsi -ta- pi ( Niitsítapi ) (pronounced nee - TAH peh - itsee - "The true, balanced people" ). The Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) described themselves as distinct from neighboring tribes often as nitsi - poi - yiksi ( "a people that our - speaks language - the true ").

The total population of the four Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) strains before the contacts with Europeans and three devastating epidemics is estimated at 15000-18000 tribal members.

Today (July 2013) include the Piikáni Nation ( Northern Piegan or Apatohsipikani ) and the Blackfeet Tribe ( Southern Piegan or Amsskaapipikani ) together approximately 21,000 tribal members.

Naming and designation

Only the actual Blackfoot - Siksika the - designated as such, this proper name Siksika (singular ) comes from the Blackfoot ( Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin or Nitsipussin ), meaning " Blackfoot " and is derived ( "black" ) from the words sik and ka ( "foot" ), which are assembled by means of the infix -si. The plural is Siksikáwa ("black feet"). The first Europeans arrived probably first on the Siksika and rendering the word Blackfoot on the closely related strains with them the Kainai and Northern and Southern Piegan.

Confederation of Blackfoot ( Blackfoot Confederacy )

Territory and members of the Confederation

Together with the Nordathapaskisch -speaking Sarcee ( abgel of the Blackfoot name as Saahsi or Sarsi - " courageous people, stubborn, defiant people" ), and (from about 1793 to 1861 ) with the also Algonquian -speaking Gros Ventre ( in Blackfoot: PIIK - siik - sii - naa - " snakes " or Atsina - "like a Cree, ie enemy" ), they formed the so-called Confederation of Blackfoot ( Blackfoot Confederacy ).

The traditional territory of the three major tribal groups of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) consisted of large areas of the North West Plains and handed in the north to the North Saskatchewan River ( Ponoká'sisaahta or Ponokasisahta - " Elk River" ) with Fort Edmonton (formerly Edmonton House, now Edmonton ) as an important trading post and by the mid -19th century in the south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River ( Otahkoiitahtayi or Otahkoi - tah - tayi - "Yellow River " - " Yellow River " ) in Montana. In addition, they ruled the territory of the headwaters of the Missouri River and roamed southwards to Three Forks along the Madison River, Jefferson River, Ruby River, Beaverhead River, Red Rock River, Big Hole River and Wise River in southwestern Montana, also chased the Small Robe band of the Piegan mostly south of the Missouri River. In the west, their territory was bounded by the Rocky Mountains ( Miistakistsi ) and extended in the north- east along the South Saskatchewan River to its present Alberta - Saskatchewan border ( Kaayihkimikoyi ), east of the Cypress Hills and the Great Sand Hills ( Omahskispatsikoyii ) in southwestern Saskatchewan as well as in the southeast on the Plains to the Montana - North Dakota border. Herein, the Sweetgrass Hills ( in Blackfoot: kátoyissiksi - "Sweet Pine Hills ") and Chief Mountain ( Ninastako ) their sacred mountains. They called their great tribal area Nitawahsin - nanni ( "Our Land" ), an obvious word equation with Nitassinan ( "Our Land" ), the name for the territory of the Innu and Naskapi in the east.

By the allied Sarcee in the northwest of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ), the actual sphere of the Confederacy extended even to the parks and Plains in northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta, from Hay River and Peace River in the north southward between the North Saskatchewan River, Athabasca River, Red Deer River and South Saskatchewan River west of Edmonton. To the east of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) the (at times) allied Gros Ventre once lived along the Saskatchewan River Forks ( the confluence of the North Saskatchewan River and South Saskatchewan River) and along the upper reaches of the Saskatchewan River in western Saskatchewan - until this with before the guns armed enemy Cree - Assiniboine south had to flee to the Milk River in Montana.

→ Main article: Blackfoot

Tribal areas of the Piegan ( Peigan )

The Piegan were with the fur traders known as Muddy River Indians, as they were called the area of the headwaters of the Missouri River, the Muddy River, dominated, however, submitted their tribal lands from the promontory at Rocky Mountain House at the confluence of the Clearwater and North Saskatchewan ( there they first negotiated with the North West Company, and later with the Hudson 's Bay Company ) in the north south to today's settlement Heart Butte in Montana and in the east to the North West Plains of Montana and Alberta, the mid-19th century attracted the South Piegan southward into the territory of the Teton River and Mary River in northwestern Montana and the Milk River region in southern Alberta, but often they wandered south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River ( Otahkoi - tah - tayi or Otahkoi - tah - tayi - "Yellow River " - " Yellow River ") and northward to Fort Edmonton (formerly Edmonton House ) and eastward to the present Alberta - Saskatchewan border, the Small Robe band was the southernmost subgroup and hunted mostly south of the Missouri River in the southwest of Montana. The Sacred Mountains of all Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) - the Sweetgrass Hills ( in Blackfoot: kátoyissiksi - "Sweet Pine Hills ") and Chief Mountain ( Ninastako ) - located in the former territory of the Piegan tribe.

The Piegan were approximately 4,000 to 5,000 tribal members the largest and most powerful tribal group of Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ), by several epidemics - particularly the smallpox epidemic of 1837 - but they were decimated to approximately 2,500.

Tribal groups of the Piegan ( Peigan )

The Piegan ( Peigan ) were first divided into three main tribal groups, of which, however, until 1850, only two were left, which due to the enormous size and the geographic location of their tribal lands as either Northern Piegan ( Peigan ) or South Piegan ( Piegan Blackfoot ) were designated:

• Northern Piegan (proper name: Apatohsipikani, lived along the Oldman River in the Porcupine Hills and the Crow Creek in southwestern Alberta, west of the Kainai, 1870 registered to 720 tribal members, in 1906 there were 493 in the Piegan agency in Alberta, Canada today usually referred to as Peigan ) - today form Piikáni nation in southern Alberta

• Southern Piegan (proper name: Amsskaapipikani or Amskapi Pikuni, lived along the upper reaches of the Missouri River and its tributaries in the Northwest and Central Montana, often roamed south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River, in 1858 an estimated 3,700, in 1861 estimated Hayden about 2500, 1870 to 3240 registered in 1906 there were 2,072 tribal members in the Blackfeet Agency, Montana, in the U.S., mostly as Piegan Blackfeet or simply Blackfeet ) - now make up the Blackfeet Tribe in northwestern Montana

• Inuk'sik (also I- nuks' - iks or Inuck'siks - "Little, scanty clothing ", " Small robes ", but literally " Those small (er ) clothes wear ", usually called Small Robe belt, hunted and set beaver traps mostly south of the Missouri River around Three Forks along the Madison River, Jefferson River, Ruby River, Beaverhead River, Red rock River, Big Hole River and Wise River in southwestern Montana, once the largest and most powerful group of Piegan, were they had smallpox and attacks the Absarokee ( Crow ) and the Salish groups weakened early and lost their once leading position among the Piegan, usually joined the Southern Piegan, 1832, there were about 250 tipis with about 2,500 tribal members ( James Kipp, American. fur traders ), after 1846 150 tipis with about 1,500 tribal members ( John Ewers ) )

Language

Their language, Blackfoot, they call Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ( " language of the true balanced people " ) or Nitsipussin ( "True, true language "). However, today spoken by approximately 39,000 Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) only 3,250 in Canada and 100 in the U.S., their native language, most speak today as a first language Canadian or American English. Some younger Nitsitapii ( Blackfoot ) in Canada also speak Cree.

Since 2008, the various tribes try to enforce that the Blackfoot language is integrated into local curricula for schools. To this end, many terms had to be recreated to be as technical or mathematical problems into account.

Today's tribes of the Piegan ( Peigan )

Today (July 2013) is one of the nation Piikáni ( Northern Piegan or Apatohsipikani ) about 3,629 tribal members, of which about 2,370 on the 426.99 km ² Piikáni 147 Reserve (formerly Peigan 147) at Brocket, about 13 km south-west of Fort McLeod and 61 km west of Lethbridge, live in southern Alberta. To reserve also includes the approximately 29.79 km ² uninhabited Peigan Timber Limit " B", and thus it is the fourth largest reserve in Canada.

The Blackfeet Tribe ( Southern Piegan or Amsskaapipikani ) in Montana has today ( 15 November 2011) 16,924 tribal members as well as estimated 4,500 descendants who are not registered in the trunk. In approximately 7770 km ² of the Blackfeet Reservation (and thus about 1,200 km ² is greater than the State of Delaware ), however, live only about 8,500 Southern Piegan, the remaining 7,500 mostly live in the U.S., Canada or other reserves. The reservation is located 1,219 meters above sea level in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains around the tribal center Browning is bordered to the north by the International Boundary, on the west by Glacier National Park and the Rocky Mountains and comprises the southern and eastern parts of the Northern Plains.