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Salish Indian
Tribe
Salish, Probably a place name, the last syllable, -ish, "people." Also
called:
A-shu'-e-ka-pe, Crow name, signifying, "flatheads."
A-too-ha-pe, Hidatsa name.
Flatheads, widely so called because, in contradistinction to the
tribes west of them, they left their |
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heads in the natural
condition, flat on top, instead of sloping backward to the crown. |
Ka-ka-i-thi, Arapaho name, signifying, "flathead people."
Ka-ko'-is-tsi'-a-ta'-ni-o, Cheyenne name, signifying, "people who
flatten their heads." |
Ko-tbh'-spi-tup'-i-o, Siksika name.
Nebagindibe, Chippewa name, signifying, "flat head." |
Mkatewetiteta, Shawnee name.
Mukkudda Ozitunnug, Ottawa name (Tanner, 1830).
NetsepoyP, sometimes used by the Confederacy and signifying "people who
speak our language."
Pah-kee, Shoshoni name.
Po'-o-mas, Cheyenne name, signifying "blankets whitened with earth."
Saha'ntla, Kutenai name, signifying "bad people."
Sawketakix, name sometimes used by themselves, signifying "men of the
plains."
S'chkoe, or S'chkoeishin, Kalispel name, from kohl, "black."
Sica'be, Kansa name.
Si-ha'-sa-pa, Yankton Dakota name, signifying "black feet."
SkuafshLni, Salish name, signifying "black feet."
Stxuafxn, Okinagan name, signifying "black."
Tonkonko, Kiowa name, signifying "black legs."
Tuhu'vti-6mokat, Comanche name.
Wateni'hte, Arapaho name.
Connections.—The Siksika belong to the Algonquian linguistic stock,
forming the most aberrant of all the well-recognized tongues of that
family except Arapaho and Atsina.
Location.—In the territory stretching from North Saskatchewan
River, Canada, to the southern. headstreams of the Missouri in Montana,
and from about longitude 105° W. to the base of the Rocky Mountains.
Subdivisions
The Siksika are divided into the following subtribes: The Siksika or
Blackfeet proper, occupying the northern part of the above territory; the
Kainah or Bloods south of the preceding; and the Piegan, south of the
Kainah, the one best represented in the United States.
Each of the above divisions was subdivided into bands as follows:
Siksika bands:
Aisikstukiks.
Apikaiyiks.
Emitahpahksaiyiks.
Motahtosiks.
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Puhksinahmahyiks.
Saiyiks.
Siksinokaks.
Tsiniktsistsoyiks. |
Kainah or Blood bands:
Ahkaiksumiks.
Ahkaipokaks.
Ahkotashiks.
Ahkwonistsists.
Anepo.
Apikaiyiks.
Aputosikainah.
Inuhksoyistamiks. |
Isisokasimiks.
Istsikainah.
Mameoya.
Nitikskiks.
Saksinahinahyiks.
Siksahpuniks.
Siksinokaks. |
Piegan bands:
Ahahpitape.
Ahkaiyikokakiniks.
Apikaiyiks.
Esksinaitupiks.
Inuksikahkopwaiks.
Inuksiks.
Ipoksimaiks.
Kahmitaiks.
Kiyis.
Kutaiimiks.
Kutaisotsiman.
Miahwahpitsiks.
Miawkinaiyiks. |
Mokumiks.
Motahtosiks. .
Motwainaiks. .
Nitakoskitsipupiks.
Nitawyiks.
Nitikskiks.
Nitotsiksisstaniks.
Sikokitsimiks.
Sikopoksimaiks
Sikutsipumaiks
Susksoyiks (Hayden, 1862)..
Tsiniksistsoyiks. |
History. According to certain traditions, the Siksika moved into their
present territory from the northeast, and it is at least evident that they
had gravitated westward, their movement probably accelerated by the
acquisition of horses. They were at war with nearly all of their neighbors
except the Athapascan Sarsi and the Atsina; both of these tribes usually
acted with them. They were on relatively friendly terms with the English
of the Hudson's Bay posts in Canada, upon whom they depended for guns and
ammunition, but were hostile to the Whites on the American side, in large
measure because through them their enemies received the same kind of
sup-plies. They were several times decimated by smallpox but suffered less
than many tribes not so far removed from White influences, and have never
been forced to undergo removal from their home country. They are now
gathered under agencies on both sides of the Inter-national Boundary and
are slowly adapting themselves to White modes of life.
Population. Mooney (1928) estimates that in 1780 there were 15,000
Blackfeet. Mackenzie (1801) gave 2,250 to 2,500 warriors for 1790, which
would reduce Mooney's (1928) figures by about one-half, but in the
meantime the smallpox epidemic of 1780–81 had occurred. The official
Indian Report for 1858 gave 7,300 and another estimate of about the same
period, said by Hayden (1862) to have been made "under the most favorable
circumstances," reported 6,720. In 1909 the official enumeration of those
in the United States was 2,195, and of those in Canada 2,440, a total of
4,635. The census of 1910 gave 2,367 in the United States, all but 99 of
whom were Piegan. The United States Indian Office Report for 1923 gives
3,124 Blackfeet and the Report of the Canadian Department of Indian
Affairs for 1924, 2,236; total, 5,360. The United States census of 1930
reported 3,145. In 1937 the Office of Indian Affairs reported 4,242.
Connections in which they have become noted.
The Siksika were peculiar
(1) as one of the largest and most warlike tribes of the northern Plains,
next to the Dakota alone in prominence;
(2) as speaking one of three
highly specialized languages of the Algonquian stock; (3) as among the
bitterest opponents of explorers and traders on the American side of the
International Boundary; and
(4) as having given the name Blackfoot to a
considerable town in Idaho, capital of Bingham County, to a creek in the same county, to mountains in Idaho and
Alberta, to a river in Montana, and to a village in Glacier County, in the
same State.
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