Woodland Tribes Move to the Plains

Chapter 3, Section 2

The Crow

• The Crow people arrived in Montana after decades of migration.

• They are relatives of the Hidatsa (North Dakota.)

• The Crow’s ancestors lived in the woodlands near the Great Lakes.

The Crow• In the early 1600’s a

band of about 500 Crow broke away from the Hidatsa and moved to Wyoming and Montana.

• They were called the Apsaalooke (ab-SAH-lah-gah) which means, “children of the large-beaked bird.

The Blackfeet• The Blackfeet

people share language roots with Algonquian people of the east coast.

• In the early 1700’s, three bands came to live permanently in northern Montana:

The 3 Bands of the Blackfeet–The Northern Blackfeet

are called the Siksika (sik-sik-AH.)

–The Blood (Kainah)–The Piegan (Pikuni)

• The Blackfeet call themselves the Niitsitape (nee-it-see-TAH-peh) which means, “the real people.”

Gros Ventre• The Gros Ventre are

descended from a band that broke away from the Arapaho to settle in central and eastern Montana.

• There they allied themselves with their neighbors, the Blackfeet.

Gros Ventre

• The Gros Ventre call themselves A’aninin (ah-ha-NEE-nin), which means “white clay people” or “upright people.”

The Assiniboine

• The name Assiniboine (ahs-nee-PWAN) means “stone cookers,” which refers to their method of cooking food on hot stones.

• They call themselves the Nakoda, meaning “generous people.”

• This tribe was also from the east, but gradually moved into Montana.

The Métis • As French and Scottish

trappers moved through the woodlands in search of furs, they sometimes had children with Native American women.

• The part-Indian, part-European (usually French) people were called Métis.

• The Métis mostly stayed in groups, forming communities from the Great Lakes to Montana.

The Cree and Chippewa

• The Cree and Chippewa people also occasionally hunted through our area before finally settling in South-East Montana.

Tribal Lifestyles• By 1700, many tribes shared ways of living

to adapt to Montana’s environment.

• Groups that moved from Montana may have previously grown crops or relied on fishing, but when they moved to the dry northern plains, all tribes became hunter-gatherers.

• They harvested plants, berries and roots, and hunted. They lived in tipis that they could move easily.

The Seasonal Round

• People gathered food and medicine according to an annual cycle called the seasonal round.

• The seasonal round is the pattern of harvesting various foods according to the season.

The Seasonal Round

• The Salish began to dig roots in the spring – bitterroot and camas.

• Strawberries, huckleberries and chokecherries followed in the summer.

The Seasonal Round

• Winter was a time for the elders to tell stories, passing down wisdom and history to the young.

• In the winter men trapped and fished. • Pemmican, a traditional food made of dried meat,

fat, and berries, was an important food for all Plains people.

The Seasonal Round

• During the winter months, tribes of the Montana plains often moved west into valleys.

• Here they were protected from the wind and close to water and fire wood.

• Bison often wintered in the valleys, and hunting continued in the early winter.

Cultural Differences

• Though many Montana tribes had cultural similarities, each tribe had its own identity and language.

• Each favored its own clothing and tipi designs and each had its own hairstyles and decorations.

• All Plains Indians wore moccasins, but each had its own recognizable design.

Cultural Differences

• Tribes also structured their societies differently.

• A tribe is made of Native people with a shared ancestry.

• Hunter-gatherer tribes were organized into smaller bands led by proven male leaders.

• The band was flexible – people or families could leave and join another band if they wished to.

Cultural Differences• Sedentary tribes (that did not

move around) were divided into family-based clans.

• In some clans, women owned all property, selected leaders and decided important issues.

• Almost all tribes also had small societies, ranging from military societies, police societies, and youth societies. Each society had its own dress, dances and songs.

A member of the Omaha tribe’s warrior society

performs a grass dance

Trade Networks• Indians of this region have

traded widely for centuries.

• Bitterroot and camas are collected from the mountains; Obsidian and chert from the Yellowstone region; Meat, hides and sweetgrass from the plains.

• Sweetgrass is a plant used for ceremonies.

Cultural Differences

• All of these goods were exchanged with far-away tribes for things like shells from the coast, pipestone from Minnesota, native copper from the Great lakes and Knife River flint from North Dakota.

• The Blackfeet sold pemmican to villages nearly 1,000 miles away and every tribe traded for tobacco. All of this was carried on foot!

• New products like European knives, hatchets, pots and beads moved quickly. Some reached Montana 200 years before white men did.

Cultural Differences• Trade networks also

strengthened relationships between tribes.

• To build a healthy trade system tribes had to be able communicate well, have a solid relationship, and be able to prove their trustworthiness.

• In this way, many trading partners became close allies.

Trade Networks• Even tribes living very

near to each other could not speak each others’ languages, but all tribes used similar sign language to communicate and trade.

• In this way a Hidatsa trader could communicate with any tribe within thousands of miles.