 Assiniboin Boy, a Gros Ventre man, photo byEdward S. Curtis | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 3,682 (2000 census) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Montana)[1] | |
| Languages | |
| English,Gros Ventre | |
| Religion | |
| Roman Catholicism,Sun Dance,[2] traditional religion[3] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Arapaho,Cheyenne |
TheGros Ventre (US:/ˈɡroʊvɒnt/GROH-vont,French:[ɡʁovɑ̃tʁ]; meaning 'big belly'), also known as theA'aninin,Atsina,[5] orWhite Clay,[6] are a historicallyAlgonquian-speakingNative American tribe located in northcentralMontana. Today, the Gros Ventre people are enrolled in theFort Belknap Indian Community of the Fort Belknap Reservation of Montana, afederally recognized tribe with 7,000 members, also including theAssiniboine people.[7]
The name used by the Gros Ventre,ʔɔʔɔɔ̋ɔ́niinénnɔh means "White Clay People".[6] It has a variety of transliterations, includingA'aninin,Aaniiih,Haaninin,[6]Aainen,Aa'ninena, andAaninena.[4]
TheFrench used the termGros Ventre, which was mistakenly interpreted fromsign language.[6] They were once known as the "Gros Ventres of the Prairies", as theHidatsa people were similarly called the "Gros Ventres of the Missouri".
After their split from the Gros Ventres, the Arapaho, who considered the Gros Ventres inferior, called themHitúnĕna, meaning "beggars."[citation needed] Other interpretations of the term have been "hunger," "waterfall," and "big bellies."[citation needed]
The Gros Ventres are believed to have lived in the westernGreat Lakes region 3,000 years ago, where they lived an agrarian lifestyle, cultivatingmaize.[8] With the ancestors of theArapaho, they formed a singleAlgonquian-speaking people who lived along theRed River Valley in present-dayMinnesota and North Dakota.[8] In Ojibwa oral history they are known as the "men of the olden time" that occupied the lands surrounding the head waters of theMississippi River.[9] They were closely associated with the ancestors of theCheyenne. They spoke the now nearly extinctGros Ventre language (Atsina), a closely relatedPlains Algonquian language, much like the Arapaho, and is grouped as anArapahoan language (Arapaho-Atsina). There is evidence that, together with bands ofNorthern Arapaho, a southern tribal group, theStaetan, spoke theBesawunena dialect, which had speakers among the Northern Arapaho as recently as the late 1920s.[citation needed]
In the early 18th century, the combined tribe came under pressure from theOjibwe, and started a migration to the upperMissouri River Valley. During the migration, the large tribe split into the Arapaho and the Gros Ventre, possibly near Devil's Lake. These groups, along with the Cheyenne, were among the last to migrate into Montana, due to pressure from theOjibwe.[8]
After they migrated to Montana, the Arapaho moved southwards to the Wyoming and Colorado area. The Cheyenne who migrated with the Gros Ventre and Arapaho also migrated onwards. The Gros Ventre were reported living in two north–south tribal groups – the so-calledFall Indians (Canadian or northern group,Hahá-tonwan) of 260 tipis (2,500 population) traded with theNorth West Company on the Upper Saskatchewan River[clarification needed] and roamed between theMissouri andBow River, and the so-calledStaetan tribe (American or southern group) of 40 tipis (400 population) living in close contact with bands (which would become the laterNorthern Arapaho) and roamed the headwaters of theLoup River, a branch of theNorth Platte River (Lewis and Clark 1806).[10]
The Gros Ventre acquired horses in the mid-18th century.[8] The earliest known contact of Gros Ventre with settlers was around 1754, between the north and south forks of theSaskatchewan River. Exposure to smallpox severely reduced their numbers. Around 1793, in response to attacks by well-armedCree and Assiniboines, large groups of Gros Ventre burned twoHudson's Bay Company trading posts that were providing guns to the Cree and Assiniboine in what is nowSaskatchewan.[citation needed]
In 1832, the Gros Ventre made contact with the German explorer and naturalist,Prince Maximilian. Along with the naturalist painterKarl Bodmer, the Europeans painted portraits and recorded their meeting with the Gros Ventre, near theMissouri River in Montana.
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The Gros Ventres joined theBlackfoot Confederacy, after which they moved to north-central Montana and southern Canada. In 1855,Isaac Stevens, Territorial Governor of theWashington Territory, signed a treaty (11 Stat. 657) to make peace between the United States and the Blackfoot,Flathead andNez Perce tribes. The Gros Ventres signed the treaty as part of the Blackfoot Confederacy, whose territory near the Three Fork area became a common hunting ground for the combined peoples. A common hunting ground north of the Missouri River on theFort Peck Indian Reservation included the Assiniboine and Sioux. In 1861, the Gros Ventres left the Blackfoot Confederacy.[8]
Allying with theCrow, the Gros Ventres fought the Blackfoot but in 1867, they were defeated.[citation needed]
In 1868, the United States government established a trading post called Fort Browning near the mouth ofPeoples Creek on the Milk River. This trading post was built for the Gros Ventres and Assiniboines, but because it was on a favorite hunting ground of theSioux, it was abandoned in 1871.[citation needed] The government then builtFort Belknap, which was established on the south side of the Milk River, about one mile southwest of the present town site ofHarlem, Montana. Fort Belknap was a substation post, with half of the structure being a trading post. A block house stood to the left of the stockade gate. At the right was a warehouse and an issue building, where the tribe received their rations and annuity goods.
In 1876, the fort was discontinued and the Gros Ventre and Assiniboine people receiving annuities at the post were instructed to go to the agency atFort Peck andWolf Point. The Assiniboines readily did so, but the Gros Ventres refused, fearing coming into conflict with the nearbySioux. They chose to forfeit their annuities rather than move to Fort Peck. In 1878, theFort Belknap Agency was re-established, and the Gros Ventres, and remaining Assiniboines were again allowed to receive supplies at Fort Belknap.
White Eagle, "the last major Chief of the Gros Ventre people", died "at the mouth of theJudith River" on February 9, 1881.[11]
In 1884, gold was discovered in theLittle Rocky Mountains. Pressure from miners and mining companies forced the tribes to cede sections of the mountains in 1885.Jesuits came to Fort Belknap in 1862 to convert the Gros Ventre people toRoman Catholicism. In 1887, St. Paul's Mission was established at the foot of theLittle Rocky Mountains, nearHays. The mission repressed traditional ceremonies and culture[citation needed] Two sacred pipes, The Feathered Pipe and The Flat Pipe, still remain central to the traditional spiritual beliefs of the Gros Ventres.[citation needed]
In 1888, the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation was established by an act of Congress on May 1, 1888 (Stat., L., XXV, 113). The Blackfoot, Gros Ventre, and Assiniboine tribes under coercion ceded a combined 17,500,000 acres of their joint reservation and were allowed to live on three smaller reservations. These are now known as theBlackfoot Confederacy, theFort Peck Indian Reservation and theFort Belknap Indian Reservation.
By 1904, there were only 535 Gros Ventre tribe members remaining.[citation needed] The tribe has since revived, with a substantial increase in population.[citation needed]
In March 2012, 63American bison fromYellowstone National Park were transferred to prairie on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation, to be released to a 2,100-acre game preserve 25 miles north ofPoplar. There are numerous other bison herds outside Yellowstone, but the herd transferred is one of the very few not cross-bred withcattle. Many celebrated the move, over a century after bison were nearly made extinct by White settlers and the government.[12] The Assiniboine and Gros Ventre tribes at theFort Belknap Indian Reservation also received a portion of the herd.[13]
The reservation government of Fort Belknap has an elected community council with 4 Gros Ventre members and 4 Assiniboine, for a total of 8 elected members of the council. The officers of the council are the President, Vice President, and Secretary-Treasurer, with the Secretary-Treasurer being appointed by the president and confirmed by the council. The secretary-treasurer, as the only appointed officer, may not vote on council matters.[14]
The constitution and bylaws of theFort Belknap Indian Reservation were ratified on September 25, 1935, and adopted on October 19, 1935.[15]
The Gros Ventre or White Clay people currently occupy the Fort Belknap Reservation in northcentral Montana, north of the Missouri River. Earlier, in the eighteenth century, they seem to have been located primarily farther to the north, around the Saskatchewan River. The name Gros Ventre (French for 'big belly') is obviously an exonym (based on a misunderstanding of the sign language form for 'falling water'), though it is commonly used by the people themselves at Fort Belknap, while the indigenous name is ʔɔʔɔɔ̋ɔ́niinénnɔh meaning 'white clay people'. The term White Clay is commonly used in English today at Fort Belknap, along with Gros Ventre. Another name that has been used in the past for this group of people is Atsina, but this is another exonym (from the Blackfeet), and not used by the Gros Ventre themselves.
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