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About the Blackfoot Tribe

There were many different Native American Indian tribes in America before the years when the pilgrims settled in America and one of the most interesting and well known tribes in the history of Native American Indian tribes is the Blackfoot Tribe. The Blackfoot tribe originally was only comprised of one nation but over the years they have grown to include four distinct nations that all share a common historical background and cultural background. The official language of the Blackfoot tribes is Algonquian and many other Indian tribe names speak this language as well. There are about 8000 people who speak this language in Alberta and north Montana which is an interesting thing to note as this language has been spoken for centuries and has not changed very much since its incorporation into the Indian nation. The two main dialects of the language are Pikanii and Siksika Blackfoot. Many children in the state of Montana are learning both of these dialects and many have incorporated a new take on the language.

The downfall of the once very prosperous blackfoot population occurred with the arrival of Europeans and the with them the small pox epidemic. The Blackfoot tribes were very pleased at first with the arrival of the Europeans because of the horses that they brought with them on their boats. These horses were very valuable to the buffalo hunters that the Blackfoot people kept in the ranks. The small pox epidemic ravished the population and in some peoples opinion this was helped by the European settlers who sold infected blankets to the Blackfoot tribe. In addition to this the American army killed many of the people of the Blackfoot nation in the mid 1800’s and beyond. This is one of the main causes of the peoples downfall and the blackfoot nation would never recover from this to this day. Today there is at least one actor with a blackfoot background and his name is Kalani Queypo. He is known for his roles in movies such as the Juror and the royal Tenenbaums in 2001.