Blackfoot Confederacy
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"Blackfoot" redirects here. For other uses, see Blackfoot (disambiguation).
 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 32,000 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
 Canada(  Alberta) United States(  Montana) | |
| Languages | |
| English, Blackfoot | |
| Religion | |
| Traditional beliefs, Sun Dance, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Algonquian peoples |
The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsitapi (meaning "original people"[note 1]) is the collective name of three First Nations bands in Alberta, Canada and one Native American tribe in Montana, United States.
Historically, the member peoples of the Confederacy were nomadic bison hunters, and trout fishermen, who ranged across large areas of the northern Great Plains of Western North America, specifically the semi-arid short-grass prairieecological region. In the first half of the 18th century, they adopted horses and firearms acquired from European-descended traders and their Cree and Assiniboine resellers. With these new tools, the Blackfoot expanded their territory at the expense of neighbouring peoples. Through the use of horses, Blackfoot and other Plains peoples harvested bison at a much accelerated rate.
But, it was the systematic commercial bison hunting by European-American hunters that permanently changed the paradigm of the Great Plains[citation needed]. Periods of starvation and deprivation for the Blackfoot followed. They were forced to end their nomadism and adopt ranching and farming, settling on small pieces of their former lands in reservations. This was the result of treaties with the United States and Canada[citation needed] , mostly signed in the 1870s, which the Blackfoot signed in exchange for food and medical aid, and help with farming. Since that time, the Blackfoot have worked to maintain their traditional language and culture in the face of past assimilationist policies of the North American nation-states.[citation needed]
