Blackfoot Indians
The Blackfoot Indians were a nation of American Indians with four distinctive tribes, one in Montana and the other in Alberta, Canada. Fierce buffalo hunters, this nomadic tribe followed their food source. With no experience in pottery, crafts or agriculture, they relied on the land. While natural food sources and small subsidized, the buffalo were their main source of food, clothing, shelter, tools and weapons.
Without modern weapons, the Blackfoot Indians would herd the buffalo into a enclosed
area where they could not escape. A corral, called a pis'kin, was built below
the edge of a perpendicular cliff and enclosed with they natural surroundings
of the land. The Blackfoot Indians used a medicine man to coerce the buffalo
to follow him towards the pis'kin. The other warriors formed a V, also known
as a chute, hiding behind trees and rocks. Once the buffalo were close enough,
they would jump out chanting and waving their robes, startling the buffalo enough
to run along the rocks. They fell and were pushed into the pis'kin below, breaking
their legs, necks, and backs as they went down the embankment. Once in the corral
they were killed by the arrows of the Indians.
The men of the Blackfoot Indians were completely free from the times they
could walk. The women of the tribes were treated as slaves. They had no freedoms
from the time they were born until their deaths they answered to someone. They
were often mutilated and murdered for trivial offenses against the husband. When
the man dies, his wives are given to his oldest brother. All material belongs
are given to the sons and brothers.
The Blackfoot tribes slowly died off from starvations as the buffalo herds
grew scarce. The died from disease as the Europeans moved into their lands. Today
the surviving heirs still live on much of the Montana land they had long ago.