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The Blackfoot Confederacy or Niitsitapi (ᖹᐟᒧᐧᒣᑯ, meaning "original people"〔Compare to Ojibwe: ''Anishinaabeg'' and Quinnipiac: ''Eansketambawg''〕) is the collective name of three First Nation band governments in the provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta, and British Columbia. It is also a Native American tribe in Montana, United States. There are three tribes in Canada, the Siksika ("Blackfeet"), the Kainai or Kainah ("Bloods") and the Northern Piegan ("Poor Robes") or Peigan or Pikuni, and one tribe in the United States: the Southern Piegan ("Poor Robes") or Pikuni in Montana. 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 shortgrass prairie ecological region. They followed the bison herds as they migrated between what are now the United States and Canada, as far north as the Bow River. In the first half of the 18th century, they acquired horses and firearms from white traders and their Cree and Assiniboine go-betweens. The Blackfoot used these to expand their territory at the expense of neighboring tribes. Now riding horses, the Blackfoot and other Plains tribes could also extend the range of their buffalo hunts. The systematic commercial bison hunting by white hunters in the 19th century nearly ended the bison herds and permanently changed Native American life on the Great Plains, since their main food was no longer abundant. Periods of starvation and deprivation followed, and the Blackfoot tribe was forced to adopt ranching and farming, settling in permanent reservations. In the 1870s, they signed treaties with both the United States and Canada, ceding most of their lands in exchange for annuities of food and medical aid, as well as help in learning to farm. Nevertheless, the Blackfoot have worked to maintain their traditional language and culture in the face of assimilationist policies of the both the U.S. and Canada. == Membership == Originally the Blackfoot/Plains Confederacy consisted of three peoples ("nation", "tribes", "tribal nations") based on kinship and dialect, but all speaking the common language of Blackfoot, one of the Algonquian languages family. The three were the ''Piikáni'' (historically called "Piegan Blackfeet" in English-language sources), the ''Káínaa'' (called "Bloods"), and the ''Siksikáwa'' ("Blackfoot"). They later allied with the unrelated ''Tsuu T'ina'' ("Sarcee"), who became merged into the Confederacy and, (for a time) with the ''Atsina'' (''Gros Ventres''). Each of these highly decentralized peoples were divided into many bands, which ranged in size from 10 to 30 lodges, or about 80 to 240 persons. The band was the basic unit of organization for hunting and defence. The largest ethnic group in the Confederacy is the ''Piegan'', ''Peigan'' or ''Pikuni''. Their name derives from the Blackfoot term ''Piikáni''. They are divided into the North Peigan (''Aapátohsipikáni'' ("the companion up there") or simply ''Piikáni'') in present-day Alberta, and the South Peigan or Piegan Blackfeet (''Aamsskáápipikani'') in Montana. A once large and mighty division of the Piegan were the Inuk'sik ("the humans") of southwestern Montana. Today they survive only as a clan or band of the South Peigan. The modern Kainai Nation is named for the Blackfoot-language term ''Káínaa'', meaning "Many Chief people". These were historically also called the ''Blood,'' from a Plains Cree name for the Kainai: ''Miko-Ew'', meaning "stained with blood" (i.e. "the bloodthirsty, cruel"). The common English name for the tribe is Blood or the Blood tribe. The Siksika Nation's name derives from ''Siksikáwa,'' meaning "Those of like". The Siksika also call themselves ''Sao-kitapiiksi,'' meaning "Plains People".〔(Informational Sites on the Blackfoot Confederacy and Lewis & Clark )〕 The Sarcee call themselves the ''Tsu T’ina,'' meaning "a great number of people." The Blackfoot called them ''Saahsi'' or ''Sarsi'', "the stubborn ones", in their language during early years of conflict. The Sarcee are from an entirely different language family; they are part of the Athabascan or Dené language family, most of whose members are located in the Subarctic of Northern Canada. Specifically, the Sarcee are an offshoot of the Beaver (Danezaa) people, who migrated south onto the plains sometime in the early eighteenth century. They later joined the Confederacy and essentially merged with the Pikuni ("Once had"). The Gros Ventre people call themselves the ''Haaninin'' ("white clay people"), also spelled ''A'aninin.'' The French called them ''Gros Ventres'' ("fat bellies"), and the English called them the Fall Indians. The Blackfoot referred to them as the ''Piik-siik-sii-naa'' ("snakes") or ''Atsina'' ("like a Cree"), because of years of enmity. Early scholars thought the A'aninin were related to the Arapaho Nation, who inhabited the Missouri Plains and moved west to Colorado and Wyoming.〔"The Blackfoot Tribes", ''Science'' 6, no. 146 (November 20, 1885), 456-458, .〕 They were allied with the Confederacy from circa 1793 to 1861, but came to disagreement and were enemies of it thereafter. The Confederacy occupied territory where they hunted and foraged that in the 19th century became divided by the current Canada–US border. But during the late nineteenth century, both governments forced the peoples to end their nomadic traditions and settle on "Indian reserves" (Canadian terminology) or "Indian reservations" (US terminology). The South Peigan are the only group who chose to settle in Montana. The other three Blackfoot-speaking peoples and the Sarcee are located in Alberta. Together, the Blackfoot-speakers call themselves the ''Niitsítapi'' (the "Original People"). After leaving the Confederacy, the Gros Ventres also happened to settle on a reservation in Montana. When these peoples were forced to end their nomadic traditions, their social structures changed. Tribal nations, which had formerly been mostly ethnic associations, were institutionalized as governments (referred to as "tribes" in the United States and "bands" or "First Nations" in Canada). The Piegan were divided into the North Peigan in Alberta, and the South Peigan in Montana. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Blackfoot Confederacy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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