Assiniboines
The Assiniboines or Assiniboins are a tribe Amerindian of North America. The language assiniboine belongs to the branch Sioux of the linguistic group Hokan-siouan.
Assiniboines belong to the Nakota S (Yanktonais, Yankton Sioux). They moved towards the North-West before the seventeenth century towards the area of the lake Winnipeg. Then, they settled close to the upper parts of the rivers Saskatchewan and Missouri.
At the time of the first contacts with the European colonists, Assiniboines did not live permanent villages; they moved according to their requirements in food.
With the acquisition of the horses and firearms at the eighteenth century, they became a typical tribe of the Large Plains. They were combined Cree S against the Pieds-Noirs (Blackfoot). Whereas they formed a large tribe at the time of the first contact, they were decimated by the Petite pox at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
Assiniboines were tradesmen. In the middle of the nineteenth century, they maintained the commercial relations with Europeans, as well military as civil, who settled of growing number in the Montana.
In 1990, one counted 5.500 Assiniboines with the the United States, the majority living in the reserves of Strong Belknap and Fort Peck in the Montana. In Fort Peck, Assiniboines are represented by the bands Canoe Paddler and Red Bottom. Approximately 1.500 Assiniboines live in reserves in Saskatchewan and Alberta, with the Canada.
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