The Nakoda (also known as Stoney or ) are an
Indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
in
Western Canada
Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...
and, originally, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.
They used to inhabit large parts of what is now
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...
,
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
and
Montana
Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...
, but their reserves are now located in Alberta and in Saskatchewan, where they are scarcely differentiated from the
Assiniboine. Through their language they are related to the
Dakota and
Lakota nations of the
Great Plains
The Great Plains (french: Grandes Plaines), sometimes simply "the Plains", is a broad expanse of flatland in North America. It is located west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains, much of it covered in prairie, steppe, a ...
and the
Rocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains, also known as the Rockies, are a major mountain range and the largest mountain system in North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch in straight-line distance from the northernmost part of western Canada, to New Mexico ...
, part of the large
Sioux Nation.
They refer to themselves in their own
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
as "
Nakoda", meaning ''friend'', ''ally''. The name "Stoney" was given them by white explorers, because of their technique of using fire-heated rocks to boil broth in rawhide bowls. They are very closely related to the
Assiniboine, who are also known as ''Stone Sioux'' (from the
Ojibwe
The Ojibwe, Ojibwa, Chippewa, or Saulteaux are an Anishinaabe people in what is currently southern Canada, the northern Midwestern United States, and Northern Plains.
According to the U.S. census, in the United States Ojibwe people are one of ...
).
Alberta's Nakoda First Nation comprises three bands:
Bearspaw,
Chiniki and
Wesley.
The Stoney were "excluded" from
Banff National Park
Banff National Park is Canada's oldest national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous terrain, with many glaciers and ice fields, dense co ...
between 1890 and 1920. In 2010 they were officially "welcomed back".
Nakota groups
The Nakota (Stoney) are descendants of individual bands of
Dakota,
Lakota and
Nakota
Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those ''Assiniboine'' Indigenous people in the US, and by the Stoney People, in Canada.
The Assiniboine branched off from the Great Sioux Nation (aka the ''Oceti Sakowin'') long ago and moved ...
, in particular of western groups of Assiniboine, from which they spun out as an independent group at about 1744. The Stoney were divided geographically and culturally into two tribal groups or divisions with different dialects, which in turn were further divided into several bands:
Wood Stoney ( – ‘Big Woods People’, often called ''Swampy Ground Assiniboine'', northern tribal group)
*
Alexis' band (Stoney, Métis,
Woodland Cree)
*
Paul's band (
Danezaa, Stoney, Woodland Cree,
Iroquois
The Iroquois ( or ), officially the Haudenosaunee ( meaning "people of the longhouse"), are an Iroquoian Peoples, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Indigenous confederations in North America, confederacy of First Nations in Canada, First Natio ...
)
Mountain Stoney ( or ''Hebina'' – ‘Rock Mountain People’, often called ''Strong Wood Assiniboine'', ''Thickwood Assiniboine'', southern tribal group)
*
Sharphead's band (, ''Wolf Creek Stoney'' or ''Pigeon Lake Stoney'', often called ''Plains Assiniboine'') (Stoney, Métis)
*
Stoney Nakoda First Nation, Comprising the three following bands:
*#
Wesley's (Goodstoney's) band (Stoney,
Plains Cree, Métis)
*#
Chiniki's band (
Métis, Stoney, Plains Cree)
*#
Bearspaw's band (Stoney, Cree)
Treaties
Members of the Nakoda nations of
Paul and
Alexis signed an adhesion to
Treaty 6 in 1877.
In 1877, representatives of the Nakoda Nations of Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney met with representatives of the
British Crown to discuss the terms of
Treaty 7. In exchange for use of traditional native lands, the Crown agreed to honour their right to self-government and an ancestral way of life. They were also promised
reserve
Reserve or reserves may refer to:
Places
* Reserve, Kansas, a US city
* Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish
* Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County
* Reserve, New Mexico, a US ...
lands, 279 km
2 situated along the
Bow River between the
Kananaskis River and the Ghost River, which became the
Big Horn,
Stoney
Stoney may refer to:
Places
* Stoney, Kansas, an unincorporated community in the United States
* Stoney Creek (disambiguation)
* Stoney Pond, a man-made lake located by Bucks Corners, New York
* Stoney (lunar crater)
* Stoney (Martian crater) ...
and
Eden Valley reserves, shared between the Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney tribes.
See also
*
Sioux language
*
Nakota
Nakota (or Nakoda or Nakona) is the endonym used by those ''Assiniboine'' Indigenous people in the US, and by the Stoney People, in Canada.
The Assiniboine branched off from the Great Sioux Nation (aka the ''Oceti Sakowin'') long ago and moved ...
*
First Nations in Alberta
*
List of Indian reserves in Alberta
Further reading
* John Snow, Chief:
[January 29, 1933 – June 15, 2006]
Book-Excerpt
/ref> ''These Mountains Are Our Sacred Places. The Story of the Stoney People.'' Univ of Toronto Press, 1977; Dundurn 1994; Fitzhenry & Whiteside 2006
Notes
{{authority control
Plains tribes
First Nations in Alberta
Native American tribes in Montana