Assiniboin People: Difference between revisions

Originally part of the Yanktonai Dakota (Nakota) Indians, they separated in early 1700's and settled in the area between the Saskatchewan and Missouri Rivers.  

In 1780 their population was estimated at 10,000. In 1990, there were 5,274 Assiniboin in the United States and others in Canada.  

Intertribal warfare forced the Assiniboin to migrate from Great Lakes to Minnesota,the tribe came in contact with non-Indians in the 1800's, migrating during the 1830's to "Montana", where Fort Union was built by the American Fur company.  

A smallpox epidemic de-populated the tribe by 4,000 in 1837

Emigrants were traveling west across the county, in 1851 the tribe signed a treaty not to attack those traveling on the Oregon Trail, tribe assigned land in western Montana.  

In 1870's the tribe settled on reservations in the United States - Fort Belknap Reservation (with Gros Ventre Tribe) and Fort Peck Reservation (with Sioux Tribes) - and in Canada - tracts of land in Saskatchewan and Alberta (with Sioux, Cree and Chippewa)

Reservation living was difficult at best, the legistics of providing food for the tribes was not efficient and when supplies failed to arrive, disappointed, hungy leaders sometime confrounted the government and military officials sometimes developing into warfair.