All about the ancient tribes
Originally the Blackfeet lived in the Saskatchewan River Valley of Saskatchewan, Canada, and the upper plains of the United States. By 1850 the tribe had moved to the Rocky Mountains and Missouri River areas.
Blackfoot, also called Blackfeet, North American Indian tribe composed of three closely related bands, the Piegan (officially spelled Peigan in Canada), or Piikuni; the Blood, or Kainah (also spelled Kainai, or Akainiwa); and the Siksika, or Blackfoot proper (often referred to as the Northern Blackfoot).
An important Algonquian confederacy of the northern plains, consisting of three subtribes, the Siksika proper or Blackfeet, the Kainah or Bloods, and the Piegan, the whole body being popularly known as Blackfeet. In close alliance with these are the Atsina and the Sarsi.
Overview. The Blackfoot Confederacy is the collective name of three First Nations in Alberta and one Native American tribe in Montana. It is also speculated that “Blackfoot Cherokee” refers to a band of Cherokee that had black ancestry, most likely from the adoption of escaped slaves into their society.
The Sihásapa or Blackfoot Sioux are a division of the Lakota people, Titonwan, or Teton. Sihásapa is the Lakota word for “Blackfoot”, whereas Siksiká has the same meaning in the Blackfoot language. The Sihásapa lived in the western Dakotas on the Great Plains, and consequently are among the Plains Indians.
Originally, only one of the Niitsitapi tribes was called Blackfoot or Siksika. The name is said to have come from the color of the peoples’ moccasins, made of leather. They had typically dyed or painted the soles of their moccasins black.
Siksikáí’powahsin (commonly referred to as the Blackfoot language) is an Algonquian language spoken by four Blackfoot nations: the Siksiká (Blackfoot), Aapátohsipikani (North Piikani), Aamsskáápipikani (South Piikani) and Kainai (Blood).
Where do the Blackfeet Indians live? The Blackfeet Indians are original residents of the northern Plains, particularly Montana, Idaho, and Alberta, Canada. Most Blackfoot people still live in this region today.
At one time, they were feared Plains warriors. Historians believe the Blackfeet, forced out of their ancestral grounds in today’s upper Great Lakes region by white advancement, were one of the first Native American tribes to head West.
www.bia.gov/bia/ois/tgs/genealogy Publishes a downloadable Guide to Tracing Your Indian Ancestry. Has a vast online library, Tracing Native American Family Roots. www.ncai.org/tribal-directory Provides the online tribal directory where contact information for specific tribes can be found.
The Blackfeet Indian Reservation is home to the 17,321-member Blackfeet Nation, one of the 10 largest tribes in the United States. Established by treaty in 1855, the reservation is located in northwest Montana.
Choctaw, North American Indian tribe of Muskogean linguistic stock that traditionally lived in what is now southeastern Mississippi. The Choctaw dialect is very similar to that of the Chickasaw, and there is evidence that they are a branch of the latter tribe.
(ˈblækˌfʊt ) noun. Word forms: plural -feet or -foot. a member of a group of Native American peoples formerly living in the northwestern Plains.
The Blackfoot lived to the south of the Red Deer River, and the Cree lived to the north. This angered the Cree so there was always a state of war between the two tribes. In about the year 1867, the Blackfoot had a young chief named Buffalo Child, and the Cree also had a young chief whose name was Little Bear.