or Blackfeet
Group of
, and Montana, U.S., comprising the Piegan (Pikuni or Blackfeet), the North Piegan Pikuni, the Blood (Kainai), and the Blackfoot proper (Siksika). Together they are referred to as Siksika, or Blackfoot, a name thought to have derived from the discoloration of moccasins with ashes. They were among the first Algonquians to move westward from timberland to open grassland and, later, among the first to acquire horses and firearms. They were known as the strongest and most aggressive military power on the northwestern plains. At the height of their power, in the first half of the 19th century, they held a vast territory extending from northern Saskatchewan to southwestern Montana. Each group was subdivided into hunting bands led by one or more chiefs. These bands wintered separately but came together in summer to celebrate the {{link=sun dance">sun dance . For three decades beginning in 1806, the Blackfoot prevented white men from settling in their territory. They signed their first treaty with the U.S. in 1855, after which they were forced into farming and cattle raising. Some 10,000 Blackfoot live in Canada, and more than 27,000 claimed sole Blackfoot descent in the 2000 U.S. census, although only 15,000 U.S. Blackfoot are enrolled members.
In a Piegan lodge, photograph by Edward S. Curtis, 1910; from The North American Indian
Courtesy of the Edward E. Ayer Collection, The Newberry Library, Chicago