Blackfoot: A Native Tribe
The Blackfoot peoples of Canada occupied much of the plains, from Southern Manitoba to the Rocky Mountains to the west, and as far north as the North Saskatchewan River.
In the east the landscape was mostly tall grass parries, the west was short grassed “high planes” and the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains, and lastly the north was grassland was grassland with a few scattered trees. The weather was very cold winters and dry summers.
Many animals lived in the plains. For example: hoofed animals such as moose, elk, mule deer, antelope, mountain sheep, and mountain goats. Also there were many small animals such as rabbit and badger and the carnivore’s animals including wolf, kit fox, red fox, coyote, ferret and weasel. The once abundant bison, which are now in fewer numbers, were a big part of Blackfoot life by being a main source of food. Plains people, including the Blackfoot, followed the bison from place to place. Before the introduction of horses various methods were used to capture the bison an example of a method was to stampede the bison over a low cliff, such as a riverbank. Another method was to drive the bison down a funnel-shaped entrance chute into a pound enclosed by a fence; the fence didn’t have to be sturdy as long as nothing could be seen thru it the bison would assume it was a wall.
The Blackfoot lived in tepees and dressed out of the same materials used to make the tepee covers. The tepees and clothes were made out of animal hides from deer, elk and moose. Men typically dressed in pants, breech-cloths, moccasins and sometimes shirts or robes made out of fur.
The basic unit of organization for Blackfoot was a band, formed of people that were related to each other thru kinship or marriage. The introduction of horses greatly increased band sizes to several hundred people live in about 30-40 tepees. Most bands did have a headman, or chief, who did lead by example. However most of the decisions were made by a council or the people themselves.
Liked it
