Everything about The Nez Perce totally explained
The
Nez Perce are a
tribe of
Native Americans who live in the
Pacific Northwest region (
Columbia River Plateau) of the
United States. It is estimated that at the time of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition the native people had been in the area for over 10,000 years. The tribe currently govern and inhabit a reservation in
Idaho. The Nez Perce's name for themselves is
Nimi'ipuu, which means simply "the people", or "we the people". The name "Nez Percé" (meaning "pierced nose") is derived from the French, a name inspired by nose pendants some of them wore, although this practice was more common among tribes downriver.
Name, language, and culture
"Nez Perce" is the spelling of the name used by the tribe itself, the United States Government, and by contemporary historians. Older historical and
ethnological works use the French spelling "Nez Percé," with the
diacritic.
In the journals of
William Clark, the people are referred to as Chopunnish . This term is an adaptation of the term cú·pʼnitpeľu (The Nez Perce people) which is formed from cú·pʼnit (piercing with a pointed object) and peľu (people). Nez Perce
oral tradition indicates the name Cuupn'itpel'uu meant “we walked out of the woods or walked out of the mountains" and referred to the time before the Nez Perce had horses. The most common self designation used today by the Nez Perce is Nimi'ipuu. Nez Perce is a misnomer given by the interpreter of the
Lewis and Clark Expedition at the time they first encountered the Nez Perce in 1805. It is from the French, "pierced nose." This is an inaccurate description of the tribe. They didn't practice nose piercing or wearing ornaments. The actual "pierced nose" tribe lived on and around the lower
Columbia River in the
Pacific Northwest and are commonly called the
Chinook tribe by historians and anthropologists. The Chinook relied heavily upon salmon as did the Nez Perce and shared fishing and trading sites but were much more hierarchical in their social arrangements.
The
Nez Perce National Historical Park includes a research center which has the park's historical archives and library collection. It is available for on-site use in the study and interpretation of Nez Perce history and culture.
Traditional lands
The Nez Perce territory at the time of Lewis and Clark was approximately 17,000,000
acres (69,000 km²). It covered parts of
Washington,
Oregon, and
Idaho, in an area surrounding the
Snake,
Salmon and the
Clear Water Rivers. The tribal area extended from the
Bitterroots in the east to the
Blue Mountains in the west between
latitude 45°N and 47°N.
In 1800, there were over 70 permanent villages ranging from 30 to 200 individuals, depending on the season and social grouping. About 300 total sites have been identified, including both camps and villages. In 1805 the Nez Perce were the largest tribes on the
Columbia River Plateau, with a population of about 6,000. By the beginning of the twentieth century the Nez Perce had declined to about 1,800 because of epidemics, conflicts with non-Indians, and other factors.
The Nez Perce, as many western Native American tribes, were migratory and would travel with the seasons, according to where the most abundant food was to be found at a given time of year. This migration followed a predictable pattern from permanent winter villages through several temporary camps, nearly always returning to the same locations year after year. They were known to go as far east as the
Great Plains, hunting
American Bison and fishing for
salmon at
Celilo Falls on the Columbia River. They relied heavily on
quamash or
camas gathered in the region between the
Salmon and
Clearwater River drainages as a food source.
Chief Joseph's surrender
On
October 5,
1877,
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce Nation surrendered to units of the
U.S. Cavalry near
Chinook in the north of what is now
Montana. Before this surrender the Nez Perce fought a cunning strategic retreat toward refuge in
Canada from about 2,000 Army soldiers. This surrender, after fighting 13 battles and going about toward Canada, marked the last great battle between the U.S. government and an Indian nation. After surrendering, Chief Joseph stated his famous quote "Hear me, my chiefs, I'm tired. My heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I'll fight no more forever." The flight path is reproduced by the
Nez Perce National Historic Trail.
Notable people
- Probably the best known leader of the Nez Perce was Chief Joseph, who led his people in their struggle to retain their identity in the face of U.S. encroachments on their land.
- One notable Nez Perce scholar was Archie Phinney. He studied under Franz Boas at Columbia University and produced a published collection of Nez Perce myths and legends from the oral tradition, Nez Perce Texts.
- Actress Elaine Miles, best known from her role in television's Northern Exposure is Nez Perce.
- Silent film actors Jack and Al Hoxie are the sons of a half Nez Perce mother.
- Nez Perce War veteran and rodeo champion Jackson Sundown
Nez Perce horse breeding program
The Nez Perce tribe began a breeding program in 1995 based on crossbreeding the
Appaloosa and a Central Asian breed called
Akhal-Teke to produce the
Nez Perce Horse. This is a program to re-establish the horse culture of the Nez Perce, a proud tradition of selective breeding and horsemanship that was destroyed in the 19th century. The breeding program was financed by the
United States Department of Health and Human Services, the Nez Perce tribe and a nonprofit group called the First Nations Development Institute (Based in Washington D.C.), which promotes such businesses in Indian country.
Fishing
Fishing is an important ceremonial,
subsistence, and commercial activity for the Nez Perce tribe. Nez Perce fishers participate in tribal fisheries in the mainstem Columbia River between
Bonneville Dam and
McNary Dam. The Nez Perce also fish for spring/summer Chinook salmon and
steelhead in the
Snake River and its tributaries. The Nez Perce tribe runs the Nez Perce Tribal Hatchery on the Clearwater River as well as several satellite hatchery programs.
Nez Perce Indian Reservation
The current tribal lands consist of a reservation comprising parts of four counties in northern Idaho; in descending order of surface area they're
Nez Perce County,
Lewis County,
Idaho County, and
Clearwater County. The total land area is 3,095.299 km² (1,195.102 sq mi), and the reservation's population as of the
2000 census was 17,959 residents. Its largest community is the city of
Orofino, near its northeast corner.
Communities
Further Information
Get more info on 'Nez Perce'.
|
External Link Exchanges
Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:
<a href="http://nez_perce.totallyexplained.com">Nez Perce Totally Explained</a>
Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned. |
