The Blackfoot Confederacy

The Blackfoot know themselves as the Nitsitapi, the “real people,” and divide themselves into the Siksika, known as the Blackfoot, the Kainai known as the Bloods, and the Piikani or Piegan, who are further divided into two groups, north and south. The Southern Piegan are the southernmost group, now located on the Blackfeet Reservation of Montana.

These groups, known collectively as the Blackfoot Confederacy, are western members of the Algonquin linguistic family that occupy a vast territory, extending “along the east side of the Rocky Mountains from the Yellowstone river in southern Montana, north to the North Saskatchewan river in Canada” (Kipp:2005).

Click on icon of map at right to explore traditional Blackfoot territory

Red Crow Community College

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