Piegan

The Piegan , in Canada mostly Peigan (English pronunciation: "Peh-gan", "Pee-GAN" or "Pay-gone") or Piikuni (English pronunciation: "Pee-kah-nee" or "Pih – kuhn– ee ") and in the United States usually Piegan Blackfeet called form, both one of the three First Nations of Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) south of the Canadian province of Alberta and a recognized at the federal level ( federally recognized ) Indian tribe in northwestern Montana in the United States. Their name is derived from their own designation as Piikuni (English pronunciation: "pee-koo-NEE") or Piikáni (other variants: Pikani, Pekuni, Piegan and Peigan ) and literally means - "Mangy clothes soiled with scabies". They were the largest, most powerful and southernmost tribe of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) and were therefore often referred to as the Southern Blackfoot .

Culturally, historically and linguistically, they are closely related to the Siksika (Siksikáwa or Blackfoot) and the Kainai (Káínawa or Blood) . All four strains spoke (spoke) each slightly different dialects of the Plains Algonquin counting Black Foot (Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin or Nitsipussin) and designate as Ni-tsi-ta-pi-ksi or Ni-tsi-ta-pi (Niitsítapi) (read: nee-itsee-TAH-peh - "The true, balanced people"). The Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) often referred to themselves as Nitsi-poi-yiksi ("people who speak our - the true - language") to differentiate themselves from neighboring tribes .

The total population of the four Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) tribes before contact with Europeans and three devastating epidemics is estimated to be 15,000 to 18,000 tribal members.

Today (as of July 2013) the Piikani Nation ( Northern Piegan or Apatohsipikani ) and the Blackfeet Tribe ( Southern Piegan or Amsskaapipikani ) together have around 21,000 tribal members.

Naming and designation

Only the actual Blackfoot - the Siksika - referred to themselves as such, this name Siksika (singular) comes from the Blackfoot (Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin or Nitsipussin) and means "black foot" and is derived from the words sik ("black") and ka ("foot"), which are put together using the infix -si- . The plural is Siksikáwa ("black feet"). The first Europeans probably first met the Siksika and transferred the word Blackfoot to the closely related tribes of the Kainai and Northern and Southern Piegan.

Blackfoot Confederacy

Territory and Members of the Confederation

Together with the Northern-Athapaskan -speaking Sarcee (derived from the Blackfoot designation as Saahsi or Sarsi - "courageous people, stubborn, defiant people") and (from approx. 1793 to 1861) with the Algonquin-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 great tribal groups of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) comprised large areas of the Northwestern Plains and extended in the north to the North Saskatchewan River ( Ponoká'sisaahta or Ponokasisahta - "Elk River") with Fort Edmonton (formerly: Edmonton House , today's Edmonton ) as an important trading post and no later than the middle of the 19th century in the south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River ( Otahkoiitahtayi or Otahkoi-tah-tayi - "Yellow River") in Montana. They also ruled the upper reaches of the Missouri River and roamed south to Three Forks along the Madison River , Jefferson River , Ruby River , Beaverhead River , Red Rock River , Big Hole River and Wise River in southwest Montana , and the Small Robe hunted Band of Piegan mostly south of the Missouri River . In the west, their territory was bounded by the Rocky Mountains ( Miistakistsi ) and extended in the northeast along the South Saskatchewan River to today's Alberta-Saskatchewan border ( Kaayihkimikoyi ), east of the Cypress Hills and the Great Sand Hills ( Omahskispatsikoyii ) in the southwest of Saskatchewan and in the southeast on the plains to the Montana-North Dakota border. The Sweet Grass Hills (in Blackfoot: kátoyissiksi - "Sweet Pine Hills") and Chief Mountain ( Ninastako ) were their sacred mountains. They named their large tribal area Nitawahsin-nanni ("Our Land"), an obvious word equation with Nitassinan ("Our Land"), the name for the Innu and Naskapi territory in the east.

Through the allied Sarcee in the northwest of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot), the actual sphere of influence of the Confederation even extended to the parks and plains in northeast British Columbia and northwest Alberta, from the Hay River and Peace River in the north south between the North Saskatchewan River, Athabasca River , Red Deer River and South Saskatchewan River west of Edmonton. In the east of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) the (temporarily) allied Gros Ventre once lived along the Saskatchewan River Forks (the confluence of the North Saskatchewan Rivers and South Saskatchewan Rivers) and along the upper reaches of the Saskatchewan River in western Saskatchewan - until these before the with Guns armed enemy Cree - Assiniboine had to flee south to the Milk River in Montana.

→ Main article: Blackfoot

Piegan tribal areas (Peigan)

The Piegan were also known to the fur traders as the Muddy River Indians because they ruled the area of ​​the upper reaches of the Missouri River , called the Muddy River , but their tribal areas reached from the promontory at Rocky Mountain House at the confluence of Clearwater and North Saskatchewan (there They traded first with the North West Company , later with the Hudson's Bay Company ) in the north south to the present-day settlement of Heart Butte in Montana and in the east to the northwestern plains of Montana and Alberta, in the mid-19th century the southern Piegan moved further south into the area of ​​the Teton River and Marias River in the northwest of Montana and the Milk River region in southern Alberta, but they often grazed south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River ( Otahkoi-tah-tayi or Otahkoi-tah-tayi - "Yellow River") and north to Fort Edmonton (formerly: Edmonton House ) and east to what is now Alberta - Saskatchewan -Gre nze, the Small Robe Band was the southernmost subgroup and hunted mostly south of the Missouri River in southwest Montana . The sacred mountains of all Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) - the Sweet Grass Hills (in Blackfoot: kátoyissiksi - "Sweet Pine Hills") and Chief Mountain ( Ninastako ) - are located in the former tribal territory of the Piegan.

With around 4,000 to 5,000 tribal members, the Piegan were the largest and most powerful tribal group of the Nitsitapii (Blackfoot), but several epidemics - especially the smallpox epidemic of 1837 - decimated them to around 2,500.

Piegan tribal groups (Peigan)

The Piegan (Peigan) were initially divided into three large tribal groups, of which, however, only two remained until 1850, which due to the enormous size and the geographical location of their tribal areas either as Northern Piegan (Peigan) or Southern Piegan (Piegan Blackfoot) were designated:

• Northern Piegan (own name: Apatohsipikani , lived along the Oldman River , in the Porcupine Hills and on Crow Creek in southwest Alberta, west of the Kainai, in 1870 there were 720 tribal members, in 1906 there were 493 in the Piegan Agency in Alberta, in Canada today usually referred to as Peigan ) - today form the Piikani Nation in southern Alberta

• Southern Piegan (own name: Amsskaapipikani or Amskapi Pikuni , lived along the upper reaches of the Missouri River and its tributaries in northwest and central Montana , they often roamed south to the Musselshell River and Yellowstone River , 1858 estimated around 3,700, in 1861 Hayden estimated approx. 2,500, in 1870 3,240 were registered, in 1906 there were 2,072 tribal members in the Blackfeet Agency in Montana, in the USA mostly referred to as Piegan Blackfeet or simply Blackfeet ) - today they form the Blackfeet Tribe in northwest Montana

• Inuk'sik (also I-nuks'-iks or Inuck'siks - “Little, poor clothing”, “Small robes”, but literally “Those who wear small (more) clothes”, usually called Small Robe Band , 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 Theyweakened earlythrough smallpox and attacks by the Absarokee (Crow) and Salish groups and had lost their once leading position among the Piegan, mostly joined the Southern Piegan, in 1832 there were around 250 tipis with around 2,500 tribal members (James Kipp , American fur trader), after 1846 approx. 150 tipis with approx. 1,500 tribal members, (John Ewers))

language

They call their language, the Blackfoot , Ni'tsiitapipo'ahsin ("language of true, balanced people") or Nitsipussin ("true, real language"). However, of the approximately 39,000 Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) only 3,250 in Canada and 100 in the USA speak their mother tongue today, most of them now speak Canadian or American English as their first language. Some of the younger Nitsitapii (Blackfoot) in Canada also speak Cree.

Since 2008, the various tribes have been trying to get the Blackfoot language integrated into the local curricula for schools. To do this, many terms had to be newly created, for example to do justice to technical or mathematical issues.

Today's Piegan (Peigan) tribes

Today (July 2013) the Piikani Nation ( Northern Piegan or Apatohsipikani ) has about 3,629 tribe members, of which about 2,370 are on the 426.99 km² Piikani 147 Reserve (formerly: Peigan 147 ) near Brocket, about 13 km southwest of Fort McLeod and 61 km west of Lethbridge, in southern Alberta. The reserve also includes the approximately 29.79 km² uninhabited Peigan Timber Limit "B" , making it the fourth largest reserve in Canada.

The Blackfeet Tribe ( Southern Piegan or Amsskaapipikani ) in Montana today (as of November 15, 2011) has 16,924 tribe members and an estimated 4,500 descendants who are not registered in the tribe. In the approx. 7,770 km² Blackfeet Reservation (and thus approx. 1,200 km² larger than the state of Delaware ) only about 8,500 Southern Piegan live , the remaining approx. 7,500 mostly live in the USA, Canada or on other reservations. The reservation is located at an altitude of 1,219 m in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains around the Browning tribal center and borders the International Boundary in the north, Glacier National Park and the Rocky Mountains in the west, and parts of the Northern Plains in the south and east.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The Blackfeet Today - Niitsítapi (we are ... the Original People)
2. ↑ Indian Reserves around Calgary - How and why to pronounce them correctly  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
3. ↑ Glenbow Museum - Blackfoot Culture and History - Nitsitapiisinni (Our Way of Life)
4. ^ Homepage of the Siksika Nation
5. ↑ Homepage of the Kainai Nation (Blood Tribe) ( Memento of the original from January 31, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
6. ↑ the area between the North Saskatchewan River and Battle River (the name derives from the war between the Blackfoot tribes and the Cree Assiniboine) became the border of the now warring tribal alliances.
7. ↑ from the Blackfoot as omukoyis from the Sarcee as Nasagachoo and from the Stoney (Nakoda) as titunga called - are each all these names "Big House"
8. ↑ since the Siksika and Piegan prevented the Kutenai from trading at Fort Edmonton, the Kutenai Rocky Mountain House was built further west near the Rocky Mountains and thus the tribal areas
9. ^ Annis May Timpson: First Nations, First Thoughts: The Impact of Indigenous Thought in Canada , University of British Columbia, 2010, ISBN 978-0-7748-1552-9
10. ↑ Nitawahsin-nanni- Our Land ( Memento of the original dated August 7, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Linda Matt Juneau: Small Robe Band of Blackfeet : Ethnogenesis by Social and Religious Transformation ( Memento of the original from December 19, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 1.7 MB) 
12. ↑ other names of the Inuk'sik: La Petite Robes, Small Robes, Little Robes, Little Blankets, Little Robe's Band and even Little Rogue's Band - "Little crooks, rags"
13. ↑ Ewers, John C .: The Blackfeet: Raiders on the Northwestern Plains, University of Oklahoma Press (September 1983), ISBN 978-0806118369 , pages 185 to 189
14. ↑ In 1846 the Inuk'sik suffered a crushing defeat by the Absarokee (Crow), in which about 50 families were killed and 200 women and children were taken prisoner, the surviving about 30 tipis joined Flathead and Nez Perce, however they had separated from them again in 1848
15. ^ John C. Jackson: Jemmy Jock Bird : Marginal Man on the Blackfoot Frontier, University of Calgary Press (October 1, 2003), ISBN 978-1552381113
16. ^ Ethnologue - Languages ​​of the World - Blackfoot
17. ↑ See Blackfeet Language Institute aims at integrating Blackfeet language into school curricula, in: Glacier Reporter, June 23, 2008 .
18. ↑ Homepage of the Piikani Nation (Nördliche Piegan) ( Memento of the original from September 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
19. ↑ Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada - Piikani Nation - Registered Population as of July, 2013 ( Memento of the original from March 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
20. ↑ Homepage of the Blackfeet Tribe (Southern Piegan)
21. ↑ Blackfeet Enrollment Department ( Memento of the original from December 29, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.