The Blackfoot Indian Tribe

1. The Blackfoot Indian Tribe Nadia Buchanan Jazmine Foster

2. The Blackfoot INDIAN Civilization These particular Native Americans lived mostly in Montana and Idaho. Some members of the tribe resided in Canada.

3. The Blackfoot Indians made their houses out of sticks, cow skin, stones, and mud. With this they either made tipis or lodges.

5. Blackfoot women The women of this tribe wore shirts of cow skin, with long sleeves tied at the wrist. They also wore skirts reaching halfway from knees to ankles, and leggings tied above the knees. In the winter, the women wore Moccasins made of buffalo robes. In the summer, they wore tanned buffalo cowskin. They wore necklaces and earrings made of shells, bone, wood, and teeth/claws of animals also. Elk tushes were highly prized and were used for ornamenting womens dresses. The womens hair was usually worn in two braids. Sometimes the hair on the forehead was cut off square and brushed straight up; sometimes they wore their hair in a huge top knot and wound with otter fur. Often a thin lock of hair wound with brass wire or braided hung down from one side of the forehead over the face.

7. Blackfoot women Blackfoot women were quite tall for their sex. They had large hands that were extremely coarse from hard labor. They unfortunately also physically aged quickly.

8. Blackfoot men The men of this tribe wore caps made from small animals, eagle feathers and headdresses. They also wore shirts, breech-clout, leggings which reached to the thighs and moccasins. They wore necklaces and earrings made of shells, bone, wood, and teeth/claws of animals. Eagle feathers/head dresses were used by men to make ornament shields and weapons.

9. Blackfoot men Physically, the Blackfoot men stood tall, straight, and were well formed. They had large well set eyes, and moderately large, straight, thin noses. They also had wonderfully developed chests.

10. Cultural facts -The Blackfoot avoid eating fish or using canoes because they believe that rivers and lakes hold special power through habitation of “Underwater People” • The Blackfoot believe spirits to be and active and vital part of everyday life. Therefore, they viewed illness as the physical presence of an evil spirit. - The Blackfoot indians used Algonquian dialect. • Marriges were arranged by close friends or relatives or they were prearranged by the bride’s parent when she was a child. - After dying, indivisuals were traditionally dressed in ceremonial clothes, their faces were painted and they were wrapped in buffalo robes. The body was then burried at the top of a hill. Men and women mourned death by cutting their hair, wearing old clothes, or smearing their faces with white clay. The possesions of the dead were distributed according to a verbal will. When a prominent leader died, his possesions were left in his lodge and his horses were shot.

11. The Blackfoot indian’s “Moments in history” When the Blackfoot Indians were crossed, they transformed to to very warlike people. They belived in fighting for what was rightfully theirs.

12. The blackfoot relocate By 1200, the Blackfoot people decided to relocate in search of more land. They moved west for a while north of the great lakes in present day Canada, but had to compete with existing tribes. Then, they decided to leave the area and continue to move west. From the Great lakes area, they finally settled in the great plains. The plains covered 780,000 square miles with the Sascatchewan river to the north, the Rio Grande to the south, and the Missisipi river to the east. There, they adopted the use of the horse and established themselves as one of the most powerful indian tribes to the plains in the late 18th century. They then earned their name “ The Lord of the Plains”. The Blackfoot stories trace their residence and possesion of their plains territory to “ time immemorial”.

13. The Blackfoot battle • Blackfoot war parties would ride hundreds of miles on raids. The Blackfoot Indians were enemies of the Crow and Sioux on the Great Plains and theShoshone,Flathead,Kalispei,Kootenai, and the Nez Perce in the mountain country to their west and southwest. Their most mighty and dangerous enemy, however, were the political/military/trading alliance of the Iron Confederacy. Between 1790 and 1850 the Nehiyaw-Pwat were at the height of their power – they could succsessfully defend their territories against the Sioux and the Blackfoot. During the Buffalo Wars they penetrated further and further into the territory of the Blackfoot indians. Around 1870 the alliance bettween the Blackfoot and Gros Ventre broke and the latter had to look at their former enemies,

14. Contact with the europeans and the fur trade Contact with the Europeans caused a spread of infectious diseases to the tribe. It was mostly cholera and smallpox. In one instance in 1837, and American Fur Company steamboat, the St. Peters, was headed to Fort Union. Several passengers contracted smallpox on the way. They continued to send a smaller vessel with supplies farther up the river to posts amoung the Blackfoot. The Blackfoot contracted the disease and eventually 6,000 died. This marked an end to their dominance.

15. Battle of the belly river • Was the last major conflict between the Cree and Blackfoot Confederacy, and the last major battle between First Nations on Canadian soil. The battle took place on the banks of the Belly River within the present limits of the city Letheridge. A devastating outbreak in smallpox and reduced the strength of the Blackfoot. Approximately a year after the battle, the Cree and Blackfoot made a formal peace. (Treaty No. 7)

16. Hardship of the blackfoot indians During the mid 1800’s the Blackfoot faced a dwindelling food supply as European-American hunters were taking too many bison. Without the buffalo, the Blackfoot could not hunt enough food and were forced to depend on the United Stated government for supplies. In 1855, the Blackfoot chief Lame Bull made a peace treaty with the United States government. The Lame Bull treaty promised the Blackfoot 20,000 anually in goods and services for exchange for their moving onto a reservation.

17. Creation myth (summary) In the beginning, Napio floated on a log with four animals. The animals were : Mameo (Fish) , Matcekups (Frog), Maniskeo (Lizard), and Sopeo (Turtle). Napio sent them all into the deep water one after another. The first three went down and returned with nothing. The turtle went down, retrieved mud, and gave it to Napio. Napio took the mud, rolled it in his hand and created the earth. He let it roll out of his hand and over time it grew to what it is today. After he created earth, he created man and woman. He had them living separately from one another. The men were shy and afraid, but Napio said not to fear and take one as their wife. They did as he asked. Napio then created the buffalo for people to hunt.

18. Brown, Alison K. "Blackfoot Confederacy.". 22 Oct. 2012. Wikipedia. 24 Oct. 2012 Haynes, Richard C. "Countries and Their Cultures." Weblog post. Blackfoot. 21 Oct. 2006. 24 Oct. 2012 • Geneology, Access. "Blackfeet Tribe, How they Lived." Blackfeet Tribe, How they Lived. 2 Mar. 1906. Handbook of American Indians. 24 Oct. 2012