Blackfoot

The Blackfoot confederacy consisted of several individual Native American tribes: the Piikana, or Peigan; the Siksika; and the Kainai. Blackfoot tribal territory traditionally spanned from the north between Edmonton and Calgary, Canada, south to Wyoming, west to the Rocky Mountains, and east to the Cypress Hills region in Canada. Originally, the tribes spoke a common language, Niitsi'powahsin (Blackfoot), which was part of an extensive Algonquian language family.

Until the late 1800s the Blackfoot was a High Plains, nomadic culture that relied primarily on native plants and American bison (buffalo) for food, shelter materials, and clothing. Each of the three tribes divided into smaller bands containing around 20 family units of about 250 people and had from 20 to 25 tepees.

In winter, each band stayed in a relatively sheltered area near a river to wait out the long, harsh months associated with this geographical climate. With warmer spring temperatures, the Blackfoot bands dispersed, meeting and moving with the migration patterns of the buffalo. Near the summer solstice the three groups convened at an agreed-upon spot for a large summer gathering known as the Sun Dance. The near-extinction of the buffalo by the late 1870s at the hands of U.S. soldiers and settlers forced the Blackfoot to change their lifestyle and to adapt to the new reality imposed on them.

Today, the U.S. population of Blackfoot, who self-identify as Blackfeet in the contiguous 48 states, is distributed across a wide geographic area, but there is a large reservation located near Glacier National Park in Browning, Montana. According to the U.S. 2010 census, about 10,405 [Page 371]Blackfeet reside within the 3,000-square-mile reservation. Approximately 74 percent of the total Blackfoot populace considers itself to be multiracial. This may be due to multiple tribal affiliations, as well as nonnative influences.