Assiniboin
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FOUR
DIRECTIONS INSTITUTE
Assiniboin |
| Ethnie: | ASSINIBOIN |
| Language: | Dakota |
| Family: | Central Mississippi Valley Siouan |
| Stock: | Siouan Proper |
| Phylum: | Siouan |
| Macro-Culture: | Great Plains |
|
| Aboriginally, the ancestors of the Assiniboin were likely sedentary hunter/farmers among the Yanktonai Dakota. By 1640, they had their nomadic hunter/gatherer identity ranging from Montana and North Dakota north into Saskatchewan. Their numerous enemies included the Blackfeet and Gros Ventre but they eventually allied with the Lakota and Crow. |
| The Assiniboin were the primary intermediaries between Hudson Bay Company and tribes to the south and west. In doing so, they were able to keep guns from their enemies. They nonetheless suffered severely from intertribal conflicts and from smallpox. |
| Aboriginal Locations (Subdivisions) |
| MN among Yanktonai Dakota |
|
| Year | History |
| 1640 | Mentioned by the Jesuits, had separated from the Yanktonai Dakota prior to this date |
| 1670 | Began visiting Hudson Bay to trade, functioned as intermediaries between Hudson Bay Company and tribes |
| 1700 | Allied with the Cree against the Sioux |
| 1738 | La Verendrye observed Assiniboin trading with the Mandan |
| 1804 | Visited by Lewis and Clark |
| 1823 | Rocky Mountain Fur Company trappers arrived in Assiniboin territory on two Mike Fink keel boats |
| 1831 | The Light visited Washington, later killed in a feud with a tribesman |
| 1837 | Ft. Union established at the conflux of the Missouri and Yellowstone Rivers; smallpox epidemic, some saved by previous Hudson Bay Company vaccinations |
| 1838 | La Gauche band had previously attacked Gros Ventre inflicting heavy losses, then later defeated by Arikara and Mandan, and possibly Hidatsa |
| 1844 | Made peace with Crow |
| 1846 | Famine forced eating of dogs, horses, and children |
| 1849 | Piegan Blackfeet killed 52 of tribe on the Maria River |
| 1851 | Precarious peace with Blackfeet and Gros Ventre at Ft. Laramie |
| 1857 | Attacked by Sitting Bull's Lakota, 11 year old Jumping Bull fought bravely with child sized bow and arrow, became Sitting Bull's brother |
| 1873 | Methodist mission set up at Stoney |
| 1877 | Treaty No. 7 established Stoney Reserve |
| 1913 | St. Michael's Mission established |
| Year | Total Population | AB | MB | MT | ND | SK | Source | |
| 1700 | 10,000 | 1,000 | 3,500 | 3,500 | 2,000 | NAHDB calculation | ||
| 1780 | 10,000 | Mooney estimate | ||||||
| 1800 | 8,000 | 800 | 2,800 | 2,800 | 1,600 | NAHDB calculation | ||
| 1829 | 8,000 | Porter estimate | ||||||
| 1843 | 7,000 | US Indian Office | ||||||
| 1890 | 3,008 | Census | ||||||
| 1900 | 1,900 | 600 | 700 | 600 | NAHDB calculation | |||
| 1904 | 1,231 | Census | ||||||
| 1923 | 2,400 | US Indian Office | ||||||
| 1989 | 3,500 | BIA estimate | ||||||
| 2000 | 8,300 | 3,300 | 3,000 | 2,000 | NAHDB calculation |
| Other speakers of the same language: |
| Dakota |
Last updated 09/20/07 Copyright © 2007 by Four Directions Press