Northern Shoshone
The Northern Shoshone , also Northern Shoshone (English Northern Shoshone ), are groups of the Shoshone - Indians . They speak a uto-Aztec language in the dialect of the Shoshone- Comanche . Together with the rest of the Shoshone and the Northern Paiute , they are sometimes referred to as snakes .
The Northern Shoshone lived together with the Bannock on the Snake River Plain in southern Idaho and the surrounding hill country south of the Salmon River until they were evicted into reservations by the whites in the 19th century . They used to live further east in the plains . The center of the winter camps was on the Green River , that of the summer hunting in the area of the South Pass , the Wind River and the Big Horn Rivers .
From the Bannock - with whom they mingled - they differed more linguistically than culturally. Due to the constant contact between the various seminomadic groups of the Northern Shoshone, there were hardly any different dialects.
Subgroups
The Northern Shoshone are made up of many small groups. Often they were named according to their food preferences:
- Agaideka ('salmon eater', own name: Pia Agaideka - 'eater of large salmon', lived on the Boise River , when around 1850 they used horses on their hikes and hunting trips, especially for bison hunting, they also became Kucundeka - ' Called buffalo eater ')
- Hekandeka ( Hukandeka - 'seed eater', is a play on words as it actually means 'dirt eater')
- Kammadeka ('rabbit eater', also known as Bruneau-Shoshone , lived between the Snake River and the Great Salt Lake , were mostly unridden until 1850 and lived mainly on fish, small game, berries and roots)
- Kogohue ( Kohogue , lived between the Green River and the Wind River on the Plains in Wyoming, were strongly oriented towards the Plains culture, often referred to as the Wind River Shoshone or Green River Shoshone , were also collectively referred to as the Wyoming Shoshone )
- Kuyudeka ('tobacco root eater')
- Lemhi (named after a place from the Book of Mormons, lived on the Lemhi River and the Salmon River , originally did not form a uniform group, but were made up of Agaideka , Tukudeka and Bannock , which mixed culturally and ethnically more and more, so that they later referred to as Lemhi Shoshone , had adopted the Plains culture)
- Pengwideka ('fish eater', literally 'little fish eater', lived along the Bear River in Wyoming)
- Padehiyadeka ('wapiti eater' or 'deer eater', lived on the edge of the Wyoming mountains)
- Pohogwe ('Wüsten-Mugwort-Eater', also known as Fort Hall Shoshone , lived with some groups of the Bannock in common camps near the later Fort Hall Reservation , on the border to the Plains Plains culture)
- Tetadeka ('pine kernel eaters', also known as Grouse Creek Shoshone , lived along the Reese River and Grouse Creek in northwestern Utah eastward along the north bank of the Great Salt Lake to the Bear River, from the Owens Valley Shoshone the Tubatulabal were also called Tetadeka designated)
- Tukudeka ('bighorn sheep eater', lit. 'meat eater', lived in the mountains of central Idaho, southern Montana and the area of Yellowstone National Park )
- Yahandeka ('marmot-eaters', also called Boise-Shoshone , lived in the region of the Sawtooth Range , on the lower Boise River , Payette River and Weiser River , occasionally joined the Pohogwe for bison hunt , but lived mainly on fish and game )
Sometimes the Bannock are also divided into these categories. Overall, the naming is very confusing, a group could be known by several names, or names could be used for different groups. For example, the Tukudeka (" bighorn sheep-eaters"), also simply Toyaine ("mountain dwellers") were called because they always lived in the mountains and did not own horses. In addition, it could depend on the season and the location that the Tukudeka instead of bighorn sheep hunted more deer, which is why they were often called Tihiyadika ("deer eaters"). The Agaideka ("salmon eaters") were also called Kucundeka ("buffalo eaters") after they hunted bison on horseback . In addition, some groups of the Tukudeka who ventured onto the plains together with the Agaideka (now often referred to as Kucundeka) later joined this, and were now referred to as Agaideka themselves.
The remaining Tukudeka must not be confused with the groups often referred to as Sheep Eaters , who fled to the mountains and waged the last war in the northwest against the whites in 1879, the so-called Sheep Eater War . The resisting tribes included the Western Shoshone (often referred to as Sheep Eaters ), the Bannock, parts of the Eastern Shoshone , Northern Paiute, and the scattered Nez Percé , Yakama and Coeur d'Alene .
Culture
The home of the Northern Shoshone is in the cultural area of the Great Basin , but on the border to the plateau and the plains . The culture of the Northern Shoshone is correspondingly diverse.
With an average of about 37 cm of precipitation per year, their home was quite dry. The area provided the Northern Shoshone with a variety of different foods thanks to the low-lying semi-arid valleys, the somewhat higher coniferous forests and the alpine mountain regions. Fish, especially from the Snake River, played an important role. The Northern Shoshone also loved bison and other game, roots and pine nuts.
For bison hunting groups of the Northern Shoshone gladly joined the Flathead in order to be better protected against the hostile Blackfoot , their eastern neighbors. With the Nez Percé , Umatilla and Cayuse in the west, the Northern Shoshone met annually on the Weiser River for a friendly trade. For example, they exchanged metal arrowheads for horses. They also maintained peaceful relationships with the Northern Paiute (often referred to as Paviotso ) in the south, and with their relatives, the Bannock, they shared the territory and did many things together.
Social organization
The Northern Shoshone stood out for their extremely disorganized structure. They hardly submitted to a chief, but acted largely independently. Only the groups that entered the Blackfoot territory to hunt bison organized themselves under a leader. These chiefs were responsible for the safety of the hunting group from the enemy Indians and coordinated the hunt for the bison. They were each supported by four or five men who held the function of "police officers".
The power of the chiefs was severely limited. Often the council replaced them with other men after a few years. The office of chief could be held by any man who had proven himself capable. In addition, every member of a group was free to switch to another group at any time, should they not be able to get used to the instructions of the chief.
The individual groups were quite small, especially in the west, where they often only consisted of a few families. Only in the east did they form larger associations for bison hunting. The different groups were strongly connected to one another through marriage, joint celebrations, regular visits and migration.
Most of the Northern Shoshone were monogamous, although polygamy , especially polygyny , also existed. Marriage between cousins apparently only occurred among the Southern Shoshone. Men and women were largely on an equal footing.
Food acquisition
Because of their nomadism, the Northern Shoshone had no claim to land or resource. Everyone was allowed to take whatever they wanted: roots, pine nuts , salmon , bison and other game. The bison hunted them from the animal's flank with a bow and arrow. The Blackfoot technique of making bison tumble over a cliff was not adopted by the Shoshone. Pronghorns hunted them either on horseback or by sneaking up in a pronghorn hide. Every now and then they are said to have driven the fork jacks into Korrals as well. Another game such as elk -Hirsche and mountain sheep they were hunting alone or in small groups.
The fishing for salmon and other fish was particularly important for the Northern Shoshone in the area of what is now the US state of Idaho. They usually speared the salmon with a harpoon or placed traps made of stone and brushwood.
The main plants they ate were prairie lily tuber ( Camassia quamash ), yampa root ( Perideridia gairdneri ), tobacco root ( Valeriana edulis ), and bitter root ( Lewisia rediviva ). All of these tubers and roots were dug up by the women. The meals were partially supplemented with pine nuts, berries, seeds or other roots.
Material culture
The Fort Hall and Lemhi Shoshone mostly lived in tipis . The rest of the Northern Shoshone lived in small huts made of sagebrush , grass, or woven willow branches.
Those groups of the Shoshone who hunted bison liked to wear bison skins in winter and elk skins in summer. Women and men put on leggings and moccasins . However, they often went barefoot.
The Northern Shoshone had baskets, sometimes kettles, cradle boards and blankets. For hunting and war, they used bows made of wood and sinews, arrows (the arrowheads also made of obsidian and later metal like knives), quivers made of otter skin and tomahawks made of stone and wood covered with animal skin. To protect warriors and horses, they used armor made of pronghorn skin strips glued together.
They liked to paint rawhide, preferring geometric shapes. In addition, they created pearl embroidery, often with geometric shapes.
For music they used drums, notched boards, which they used as rasp, and flageolets , a kind of pipe.
Religion and ceremonies
The Northern Shoshone beliefs were heavily influenced by the Plains culture. So dreams and visions play an important role. Closely connected with this are spirit beings whose protection they sought to gain. The spirit beings taught them which taboos to keep and how they could prepare medicine to please the spirit beings and use their power for themselves. When this was the case, the spirit beings healed the sick, protected people from arrows, or inflicted evil on the enemy.
Every man and woman can invoke the power of the spirit beings and is thus to a certain extent a shaman . But there are some who specialize in it, these are the real medicine men . They are particularly knowledgeable about sacred herbs and roots.
Further, the Northern Shoshone believe in a Creator.
Coyote and wolf occupy a central place in their mythology . The creation of man is ascribed to the wolf. The coyote, on the other hand, is said to be a trickster who brought disorder into the world.
Similar to the Plains Peoples, the Northern Shoshone also know various dances. The most important is called nuakkinna and was mainly celebrated in spring to encourage the salmon to return and to ask for enough food. Another ceremony was held when the salmon actually returned.
The Northern Shoshone inherited other cultural elements from the Plains tribes. For example, they counted coups in fights and took scalps , which they displayed in their village on long sticks, around which they danced.
These were all pretty simple ceremonies. The Northern Shoshone were ignorant of complex religious practices.
Demographics
Due to the many scattered groups, initial estimates of the population were inadequate. More precise information could only be given in the reserve period. In 1873, 1,037 Northern Shoshone and Bannock were counted on reservations and another 900 outside of the reservations. The US Census estimated the number of Northern Shoshone in 1910 to be around 2000. In 1937, 3650 are said to have lived according to the Bureau of Indian Affairs . In 1981 the Shoshone-Bannock tribe had 3,100 members.
history
Over the course of over 1,000 years, the Northern Shoshone moved from the Great Basin to the Plateau and onto the Plains. Towards the end of the 17th century they got their first horses, which had been introduced by European immigrants. The Blackfoot, too, were soon mounted and at about the same time had firearms with which they pushed the Northern Shoshone back west in the mid-18th century. Other Shoshone dodged south, later becoming known as the Comanche .
The Northern Shoshone first came into contact with the Whites in 1805 when the Lewis and Clark Expedition passed through their area. The expedition was accompanied by one of her wives, Sacagawea . From this point on there was almost regular contact with the whites, who set up trading posts in various places near them. They were followed by trappers and hunters. The trappers wiped out the beavers in the area by 1840 and the hunters almost wiped out the bison west of the watershed by the end of the 19th century. The Northern Shoshone and Bannock were kind to the whites, but did not trade with them as heavily as other tribes did. From the 1840s onwards, more and more white settlers moved through their area on the way to California or Oregon. Around 1860 they increasingly settled in the territory of the Northern Shoshone. Mormons and prospectors, in particular , exerted heavy pressure on the Shoshone and Bannock, along with the rapidly decreasing numbers of bison. There were always incidents. One group after the other, the Northern Shoshone made treaties with the Whites, ceding large areas to them and moving to reservations. In 1867 the Fort Hall Reservation was created for the Boise and Bruneau Shoshone . On July 3, 1868, the Northern Shoshone living in the east signed the Treaty of Fort Bridger with the Bannock and also moved to the Fort Hall Reservation. In 1875 the Lemhi and Sheepeater Shoshone moved to a reservation in the Lemhi Valley. This was dissolved again in 1907 and the residents relocated to the Fort Hall Reservation. There were always violent clashes between Shoshone and whites, which culminated in the Sheepeater War of 1878/79. During the 20th century, the US government greatly reduced the size of the reservations. With that, the Northern Shoshone had lost much of their former territory.
Their culture faded into the background. After 1890 the Eastern Shoshone adopted the sun dance and from 1915 peyotism ; this was able to counteract this somewhat.
Todays situation
In the 20th century, most of the Northern Shoshone lived in the Fort Hall Reservation. A few had settled with the Western Shoshone or the Northern Paiute. Although they mingled completely with the Bannock, both languages and both identities were preserved.
Fort Hall Shoshone incomes are significantly lower than the average US wage. Unemployment is widespread. The bilingual education of children is much worse than that of whites.
In the course of the 20th century, the lease income and the income from mineral rights rose sharply and agriculture developed positively. The Fort Hall Shoshone live largely autonomously and defend themselves against outside influences. So they were able to partially preserve their culture. They have their own constitution, a museum, a library and a weekly newspaper.
To revive the culture, the residents of the reservation were granted the right in 2006 to hunt buffalo again north of Yellowstone National Park in parts of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness .
See also
List of North American Indian tribes
literature
- Robert Lowie : Dances and Societies of the Plains Shoshones. New York 1915.
- John R. Swanton: The Indian Tribes of North America . Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 145, Smithsonian Press, Washington DC, 1969, ISBN 0-87474-092-4
- D'Azevedo, Warren L .: Handbook of North American Indians . Volume 11: Great Basin . Smithsonian Institution (Ed.), Washington, 1986, ISBN 0-16004-581-9
Web links
- Official site of the Shoshone Bannock tribes (Engl.)
- Northern Shoshone and Bannock (Engl.)
- History of the Northern Shoshone (Engl.)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Sean Reichard: Crow Tribe Wants to Join Tribal Hunts of Yellowstone Bison. Article on yellowstoneinsider.com, February 16, 2018, accessed February 18, 2020.