Blackfoot - Orientation

Identification. The Blackfoot of the United States and Canada consisted aboriginally of three geographical-linguistic groups: the Siksika (Northern Blackfoot), the Kainah (Blood), and the Pikuni or Piegan. The three groups as a whole are also referred to as the "Siksika" (Blackfoot), a term that probably derived from their practice of coloring their moccasins with ashes. The term Kainah means "many chiefs" and Piegan refers to "people who had torn robes." Although the three groups are sometimes called a confederacy, there was no overarching political structure and the relations among the groups do not warrant such a label. Actually, the three groups had an ambiguous sense of unity, and they gathered together primarily for ceremonial purposes.

Location. Before the Blackfoot were placed on reservations and reserves in the latter half of the nineteenth century, they occupied a large territory that stretched from the North Saskatchewan River in Canada to the Missouri River in Montana, and from longitude 105° W to the base of the Rocky Mountains. The Plains Cree were located to the north, the Assiniboin to the east, and the Crow to the south of the Blackfoot. The Piegan were located toward the western part of this territory, in the mountainous country. The Blood were located to the northeast of the Piegan, and the Northern Blackfoot were northeast of the Blood. The Blackfoot now live mainly on or near three reserves: the Blackfoot Agency (Northern Blackfoot), the Blood Agency, and the Peigan Agency (Northern Peigan) in Alberta, Canada, and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana, inhabited by the Southern Piegan.

Demography. In 1790 there were approximately 9,000 Blackfoot. In 1832 Catlin estimated that the Blackfoot numbered 16,500, and in 1833 Prince Maximilian estimated that there were 18,000 to 20,000. During the nineteenth century, starvation and repeated epidemics of smallpox and measles so decimated the population that by 1909 the Blackfoot numbered only 4,635. Evidence indicates that the Piegan were always the largest of the three groups. In 1980 in Montana, the Blackfoot population was about 15,000 with 5,525 on the Blackfeet Reservation and the remainder living off the reservation. In Canada they numbered about 10,000.

Linguistic Affiliation. Blackfoot is an Algonkian language and is on a coordinate level with Arapaho and Cheyenne. Dialects of Blackfoot are Siksika, Blood, and Piegan.