Article Outline
Blackfoot, Native Americans of the Algonquian language family, living in the Great Plains culture area, and a confederacy of tribes. The Blackfoot Confederacy, or Blackfoot Nation, consisted of three main groups: the Blackfoot proper (or Siksika, meaning “those with black-dyed moccasins” in Algonquian); the Blood (or Kainah, meaning “blood,” because they painted their bodies with red clay); and the Piegan (also Piikani or Pikuni, for 'poorly dressed'). Two other Plains tribes, the Gros Ventre and the Sarcee, were also part of the confederacy.
The term Blackfoot or Blackfeet is often used to refer collectively to the Blackfoot, Blood, and Piegan. The South Piegan of Montana are today officially known as the Blackfeet.
The various tribes of the Blackfoot Confederacy are thought to have migrated to the Northern Plains from the east, separating from other Algonquians before contacts with non-Indians. By the mid-18th century they had acquired horses. By the mid-19th century, at the peak of their power, they controlled a vast territory, from what is now southern Alberta and Saskatchewan to the upper Missouri River in Montana. They were feared by other Native American groups and were frequently at war with their neighbors, who included the Cree, Crow, Shoshone, and Sioux. In times of war the three Blackfoot divisions united to defend their lands. In the 19th century the Blackfoot preyed on non-Indians in their territory, such as miners and fur traders and trappers, as well as migrants on the Oregon and Bozeman trails. A series of smallpox epidemics from the 1830s to 1870s ravaged their population. Overhunting of buffalo (American bison) herds by non-Indians also altered their way of life.
Expert horseback riders, Blackfoot tribes were nomadic groups, living in tipis in easily dismantled villages and following herds of buffalo. The men also hunted other game, such as deer, elk, and mountain sheep. The women gathered wild plant foods. Except for growing tobacco, the Blackfoot did no farming. Blackfoot tribes were divided into several bands, each led by a chief. The bands assembled in summer for social and religious ceremonies. Like other Plains Indians, they engaged in vision quests and the Sun Dance, or Medicine Lodge Ceremony. Unlike in other Plains tribes, women participated in the Blackfoot version of the Sun Dance. The Blackfoot practiced polygamy; a prosperous warrior might have several wives.
In the 2000 U.S. census about 27,000 people identified themselves as Blackfeet or Blackfoot only; an additional 59,000 people reported being part Blackfeet or Blackfoot. Several thousand people, the Blackfeet (South Piegan), live on the large Blackfeet Reservation in Montana. The 1996 Canadian census counted about 3,500 people whose first language was Blackfoot. The North Blackfoot, Blood, and North Piegan have reserves in Alberta, Canada. Ranching, farming, tourism, and some manufacturing provide income for tribal members. The Montana Blackfeet host the North American Indian Days, an annual powwow in Browning, Montana.
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