The
Assiniboine Indians
Thesis: The Assiniboine Indian Tribe played a
great role in the shaping of
north-eastern Montana as well as being a fundamental tool in the growth of the
early fur industry.
1.
Introduction
2.
First original
boundaries
a.
Minnesota
b.
South Dakota
3.
Settlers effect on
boundaries
a.
Montana
i.
north of Yellowstone
River
ii.
east of Milk River
b.
Alberta
i.
west of Calgary
ii.
south of Nanton
4.
Current Boundaries
a.
Montana
i.
north of Missouri
River
ii.
east of Milk River
b.
Canada
i.
Southern Alberta
5.
Nicknames of the
Assiniboine
a.
Within their own
tribe
i.
Ass’ see’nee’poi’tuc
- those who cook with stones
ii.
Nakota - the allies
or the people
b.
Among other tribes
i.
Hohe-rebels - called
by the Sioux
ii.
Stonies - called by
the Canadians because Assiniboine cook with stones
6.
Families
a.
Children
i.
1-3 per family
ii.
each were born 5-7
years apart
b.
Men
i.
hunters
ii.
warriors
c.
Women
i.
made fur clothing and
rugs
ii.
traditional female
duties
7.
Chiefs
a.
Requirements
i.
good hunter
ii.
good warrior
1.
have 1 enemy scalp
b.
The next chief of the
tribe
i.
not usually the son
of the chief
ii.
usually a medicine
man
8.
Communication
a.
Language
i.
Assiniboine language
ii.
Sioux dialect
b.
Taboo relationship among
family members
i.
father-in-law and
daughter-in-law
ii.
mother-in-law and
son-in-law
9.
Hunting
a.
Buffalo
i.
main food source
b.
Hunting methods
i.
chased buffalo on
horse over a cliff
ii.
shot other big
animals with bow and arrow
c.
Hunted on other
tribe’s territory
10. Ally tribes
a.
Monsoni
b.
Cree
c.
Chippewa
11. Enemy tribes
a.
Sioux - once joined
with Assiniboine
b.
Cheyenne
c.
Arikara
d.
Gros Ventres - now
share reservation at Fort Peck
e.
Blackfeet
12. Early industries
a.
Fur trading
b.
Hide producing
13. Ceremonies
a.
Grass Dance
b.
Sun Dance
c.
Medicine Lodge Dance
d.
Tancowaci Dance
14. Conclusion
The
Assiniboine Indian Tribe
The culture of the Assiniboine Indian
Tribe was and still is very unique.
Their culture was shaped by fur trading. The Assiniboine Indians were one of the greatest influential tribes
on the fur industry. They also helped
shape the beginning of Montana and southern Alberta. The Fort Peck Reservation is shared by the Assiniboine, Gros
Ventres, and the Sioux Indians. It was
shaped by the fighting among the tribe.
Fort Peck is a great location of history for the Assiniboine
Indians. The Assiniboine Indian tribe
played a great role in the shaping of north eastern Montana as well as being a
fundamental tool in the growth of the early fur industry.
The first original boundaries of the Assiniboine Indian Tribe were
very vast. The tribe roamed around all
of the land north of the southern
border of South Dakota, but south of the border of Canada and the United
States. The boundaries also ranged from
west of the eastern border of Minnesota to the Milk River of Montana. Bands of the tribe would move to areas where
buffalo were plentiful. When buffalo
became scarce in their area, the band would move to another area where the
herds of bison were plentiful. These
boundaries stayed for a couple hundred years until Europeans arrived in
America.
Europeans made a huge impact on the
size of the Assiniboine Indian’s territory.
The greedy settlers pushed the tribe west because they wanted the
fertile land for farming. The
defenseless tribe was pushed into north eastern Montana and southern
Alberta. The location of the tribe was
north of the Yellowstone River and east of the Milk River. In Alberta, the location of the bands were
west of present day Calgary and south of present day Nanton. These boundaries still gave the Assiniboine
Indians a vast territory. In these
lands, there was still a lot of buffalo and other big food sources. So the Assiniboine Indian Tribe was able to
survive on their new territory.
Today the territory of Assiniboine
Indian Tribe is still somewhat large, but not as big as their original
territory. Their territory extends from
southern Alberta to the Missouri River in Montana. Their territory is within the boundaries of the Milk River and
the eastern border of Montana. The
population of Assiniboine Indians in Canada is 3,000 and 2,200 in the United
States. The Fort Peck holds the second
largest population of Assiniboine Indians.
It is also the home to the Gros Ventres and Sioux Indian Tribes. The Native Americans own 926,000 acres out
of the 2,093,318 acres on the reservation.
The Assiniboine Indian Tribe moved near the Fort Peck in the early
1800’s. A large quantity of the tribe
has lived there ever since.
The Assiniboine Indian Tribe has many
names besides the Assiniboine Indians.
A nickname they call themselves is the Assseeneepoituc. This old word means “ Those who cook with
stones”(Montana the Magazine of Western History; 40). Another nickname they call themselves is the Nakota. The word Nakota mean the allies or the
people.
The Assiniboine Indians had many
nicknames from other tribes. The Sioux
Indian Tribe had an offensive nickname for the Assiniboine Indian Tribe. The name was the Hohe-rebels. They were called this because at one time
the Sioux and Assiniboine Indians were united.
But the Assiniboine turned on the Sioux. For this reason they are called the Hohe-rebels by the Sioux
Indian Tribe. Another name was the
Stonies which was called by the Canadians.
They called them the Stonies because the early French Canadians
witnessed the Assiniboine Indian Tribe cooking their stew with stones.
The Assiniboine Indian families were a
very strong unit. “ They are tall,
graceful in their movements. They wear
their pictured robes of buffalo hide to good effect” ( George Catlin; 22).
The children were usually born five to seven years apart. Usually there were about one to three
children in each family. The men were
hunters and warriors. They were taught
how to be a warrior when they were about ten years of age. The women of the tribe did traditional
female duties like making coats, pants, or rugs out of buffalo fur. This was the life style of a typical
Assiniboine Indian family.
The chiefs of the Assiniboine Indian
Tribe were very powerful. They were
worshipped like a god. The chief of the
tribe was always a strong male with leadership qualities. The requirements to become a chief were not
very strict, but they were dangerous.
One requirement to become a chief was to be an excellent hunter. You had to be a great hunter because if the
tribe was in dire need of food, you had to be able to provide a hearty meal for
your starving tribe. Another
requirement to become chief was to be a great warrior. You were said to be a great warrior if you
had one enemy scalp. This scalp
primarily had to be from the Sioux Indian Tribe because the Sioux and the
Assiniboine were arch rivals. As you
can see, being the chief of a Assiniboine Indian Tribe would be no easy
task.
Usually the next chief of the tribe
would meet these requirements. Never
though was the son of the chief going to be the next leader. Often the next chief of the tribe was a
medicine man. They sometimes voted for
medicine men because they were good men even though most of them did not meet
the requirements for chief.
Communication was an essential asset to
the Assiniboine Indian Tribe because they were big fur traders and needed to
know how to communicate with fur traders from other tribes and countries. The Assiniboine Indians had their very own
language. They spoke their language
with a Sioux dialect because they were united at one time.
There were a few taboos between the
family members of the Assiniboine Indian Tribe. For example, a father-in-law is not allowed to speak to his
daughter-in-law. Another example would
be a mother-in-law is not allowed to speak to her son-in-law.
Hunting was the only way of survival
for the Assiniboine Indians. If there
was no hunting, they would of had to live on plants, which there was not much
of in eastern Montana. So if there was
no hunting, the Assiniboine Indians would probably have not been living
today. They would have been totally
wiped out.
The buffalo was the main food source
for the Assiniboine Indians. They
absolutely worshipped it. The hunting
method to kill a buffalo was simple.
All the Indians had to accomplish was to stampede a herd of bison over a
cliff. These treacherous cliffs were
called buffalo jumps. Other big animal
food sources were usually trapped in a forest and shot with a bow and
arrow. The Assiniboine Indian Tribe was
found rarely hunting on their own territory.
They were found most often on another Indian tribe’s land. The Assiniboine Indians did this because
buffalo were becoming scarce on their own territory.
The Assiniboine Indian Tribe had many
allies, but even more enemies. The
Assiniboine Indians were great friends with the nearby Monsoni Indian
Tribe. They have been doing barters
since both of the tribes met. Another
great ally of the Assiniboine Indians were the Cree Indians. The Cree Indians usually helped the
Assiniboine defend their trading posts from raids from tribes like the
Blackfeet or the Sioux Indians. The
Chippewa Indian Tribe was another great ally with the Assiniboine Indians. They also did many tasks and barters with
the Assiniboine Indian Tribe.
The Assiniboine Indian Tribe had a
bunch of enemies, and enemies they were.
Their most harmful enemy was probably the Sioux Indian Tribe. They were probably the worst enemy because
once the Sioux and Assiniboine were united as one large Indian nation. But about one third of the Indians split
from the group because they did not believe that they were getting their fair
share of the buffalo meat. These
rebellious Indians were known as the Assiniboine. Another powerful enemy was the Cheyenne Indian Tribe. The Cheyenne and the Sioux Indian Tribes
usually allied together, so they were probably the worst enemies. A few other harsh enemies were the Arikara,
Gros Ventres and Blackfeet Indians. Of
course the Blackfeet Indians were an enemy to the Assiniboine Indian Tribe
because the Blackfeet Indians were pretty much enemies to every Indian tribe in
Montana. These days the Sioux, Gros
Ventres, and the Assiniboine Indians share Fort Peck Reservation in
northeastern Montana. This is a great
example of how times change.
Fur trading and hide producing
benefited and damaged the Assiniboine Indian Tribe greatly. For example, the Assiniboine Indians
benefited from fur trading because when they did barters, they received a
surplus of supplies like guns and horses.
Horses were a great benefit because they made it a lot easier to hunt
buffalo. The tribe made many trades
with the Hudson Bay Company, the American Fur Company, and the Northern Fur
Company. The Assiniboine Indians set up
a bunch of trading posts with these companies.
Usually their trading posts last about forty years.
The biggest problem with fur trading
with Europeans was probably the spread of European disease. In 1780, Smallpox struck the Assiniboine
Indians. Disease practically died out
the Assiniboine. Another problem with
trading with the Europeans was they often would try to rip off the
Indians. The other big problem was the
European traders would sneakily try and set up trading posts on the Assiniboine
Indian territory. This caused many
skirmishes between the Europeans traders and the Assiniboine Indian traders.
Ceremonies were a very big tradition in
the Assiniboine culture. One ceremony
was called the Grass Dance. This dance
is supposed to make the grass grow so the buffalo would come. Another traditional dance was the Tancowaci
Dance. This ceremony was the dance
without robes. Two other dances were
named the Medicine Lodge Dance and the Sun Dance. The Sun Dance is done once a year when it rains for a long period
of time. Ceremonies were very sacred to
the Assiniboine Indian Tribe.
In conclusion, the Assiniboine Indian
Tribe was a great influence to northeastern Montana and the early fur trading
industry. The Assiniboine Indians
proved to be a very strong Indian tribe.
They survived many European diseases and other harsh hardships. They also proved they were great warriors
because they fought and protected their territory against rival tribes. After extensive research, I discovered that
the Assiniboine Indian Tribe was a very interesting topic. I have enjoyed and learned a lot from my
studies.
Work Cited
Committee on
Indian Affairs. “Historical Overview of Montana’s Indians.” Tribal Nations of Montana. Helena, Montana: Montana Legislative Council, March 1995.
Fort Peck
Community College. “Tribal
History.” Fort Peck, Montana: Fort Peck Community College, 1993-1995.
(No
Author). Fort Peck Reservation. Fort Peck, Montana: Fort Peck Agency
Long, James
L. The Assiniboines. Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.
Mcloughlin,
Denis. Wild and Wooly. Garden City, New York : Doubleday and Company Inc., 1975
Medicine,
Bea. “ Assiniboin.” Grolier Electronic Publishing Inc., 1993
(No
Author). Montana the Magazine of
Western History. Montana Historical
Society, Winter 1976
Tribal Leaders
Council. “ The Early Days.” Fort Peck, Montana: Tribal Leaders Council