ᑯᖿᖹ / Piikáni / ṗiik̇ǔni | |
|---|---|
| Total population | |
| 2010 census: total of 105,304 (alone and in combination)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| United States (Montana) | |
| Languages | |
| English,Blackfoot | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity,Traditional beliefs | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| otherBlackfeet peoples (Kainai andSiksika Nations), andAlgonquian peoples |
ThePiegan (Blackfeet:ᑯᖿᖹ /Piikáni /ṗiik̇ǔni,Blackfoot pronunciation:[piːkʌ́ni]) are anAlgonquian-speaking people from theNorth American Great Plains. They are the largest of three Blackfeet-speaking groups that make up theBlackfeet Confederacy; theSiksika andKainai are the others. The Piegan dominated much of the northernGreat Plains during the nineteenth century.
After their homelands were divided by the nations of Canada and the United States of America making boundaries between them, the Piegan people were forced to sign treaties with one of those two countries, settle in reservations on one side or the other of the border, and be enrolled in one of two government-like bodies sanctioned by North American nation-states. These two successor groups are theBlackfeet Nation, afederally recognized tribe in northwesternMontana, U.S., and thePiikani Nation, a recognizedband government inAlberta, Canada.
Today many Piegan live with the Blackfeet Nation with tribal headquarters inBrowning, Montana. There were 32,234 Blackfeet recorded in the1990 United States census.[2] In 2010 the US Census reported 105,304 persons who identified as Blackfeet ("alone" or "in combination" with one or more races and/or tribes.)[1]
ThePiegan (also known as the Pikuni, Piikuni, Piikani, and Piikáni) are one of the three original tribes of theBlackfeet Confederacy (a "tribe" here refers to an ethnic or cultural group with a shared name and identity). The Piegan are closely related to theKainai Nation (also known as the "Blood Tribe"), and theSiksika Nation (also called the "Blackfeet Nation"); together they are sometimes collectively referred to as "the Blackfoot" or "theBlackfoot Confederacy". Ethnographic literature most commonly uses "Blackfeet people", and Canadian Blackfeet people use the singular Blackfeet.
The tribal governments and the US government use the term "Blackfeet", as inBlackfeet Nation, as used on their official tribe website. The termᓱᖽᐧᖿSiksiká, derived fromᓱᖽᐧᖼᖾᖳᐡSiksikáíkoan (a Blackfeet person), may also be used as self-identification. In English, an individual may say, "I am Blackfeet" or "I am a member of the Blackfeet tribe."[3]
Traditionally, Plains peoples were divided into "bands": groups of families who migrated together for hunting and defence. The bands of the Piegan, as given by Grinnell, are: Ahahpitape, Ahkaiyikokakiniks, Kiyis, Sikutsipmaiks, Sikopoksimaiks, Tsiniksistsoyiks, Kutaiimiks, Ipoksimaiks, Silkokitsimiks, Nitawyiks, Apikaiviks, Miahwahpitsiks, Nitakoskitsipupiks, Nitikskiks, Inuksiks, Miawkinaiyiks, Esksinaitupiks, Inuksikahkopwaiks, Kahmitaiks, Kutaisotsiman, Nitotsiksisstaniks, Motwainaiks, Mokumiks, and Motahtosiks. Hayden gives also Susksoyiks.[4]
In 2014, researchers reported on their sequencing of the DNA of a 12,500+-year-old infant skeleton in west-central Montana,[5] found in close association with severalClovis culture artifacts. It showed strong affinities with all existing Native American populations.[6]
There is preliminary evidence of human habitation innorth central Montana that may date as far back as 5000 years.[7] There was evidence that the people had made substantial use ofbuffalo jumps from as early as AD 300.[8]
The Piegan people may be more recent arrivals in the area, as there is strong evidence that, beginning about 1730, their Algonquian-speaking ancestors migrated southwest from what today isSaskatchewan.[9] Before that, they may have lived further east, as many Algonquian-speaking peoples have historically lived along the Atlantic Coast, and others around theGreat Lakes.
Linguistic studies of the Blackfoot language in comparison to others in theAlgonquian-language family indicate that the Blackfoot had long lived in an area west of theGreat Lakes.[citation needed] Like others in this language family, the Blackfoot language isagglutinative.
The people practiced some agriculture and were partly nomadic. They moved westward after they adopted use of horses and guns, which gave them a larger range for bison hunting. They became part of thePlains Indians cultures in the early 19th century. According to tribal oral histories, humans lived near theRocky Mountain Front for thousands of years before European contact.[10][11] The Blackfoot creation story is set nearGlacier National Park in an area now known as theBadger-Two Medicine.
The introduction of the horse is placed at about 1730, when raids by theShoshone prompted the Piegan to obtain horses from theKutenai and otherInterior Salish peoples, as well as theNez Perce.[12] Early accounts of contact with European-descended people date to the late eighteenth century. The fur trader James Gaddy and theHudson's Bay Company explorerDavid Thompson, the first Whites recorded as seeingBow River, camped with a group of Piegan during the 1787–1788 winter.[13]
In 1858 the Piegan in the United States were estimated to number 3,700. Three years later, Hayden estimated the population at 2,520. The population was at times dramatically lower when the Blackfeet people suffered declines due toinfectious disease epidemics. They had no natural immunity to Eurasian diseases, and the 1837smallpox epidemic on the Plains killed 6,000 Blackfeet, as well as thousands more in other tribes. The Blackfeet also suffered fromstarvation because of disruption of food supplies and war. When the last buffalo hunt failed in 1882, that year became known as the starvation year. In 1900, there were an estimated 20,000 Blackfoot. In 1906 there were 2,072 under the Blackfeet Agency in Montana, and 493 under the Piegan band in Alberta, Canada. In the early 21st century, there are more than 35,000. In the US 2010 census, 105,304 people identified as Piegan Blackfeet, 27,279 of them full-blooded, the remainder self-identified as being of more than one race or, in some cases, with ancestry from more than one tribe, but they primarily identified as Blackfeet.[1]
The Blackfeet had controlled large portions of Alberta and Montana. Today the Blackfeet Reservation in Montana is the size ofDelaware, and the three Blackfootreserves in Alberta have a much smaller area.[3]
The Blackfeet hold belief "in a sacred force that permeates all things, represented symbolically by the sun whose light sustains all things".[2]
The Blackfeet have "manly-hearted women".[14] These were recorded as acting in many of the social roles of men. This includes a willingness to sing alone, usually considered "immodest", and using a men's singing style.[15]
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