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Native American Indian Information
THE GROS VENTRE TRIBE
The Beginnings
The Gros Ventre tribe began as a splinter
group of Arapaho Indians who left their kinsmen to journey north. Their poor
choice of the powerful Blackfoot Nation as enemies left their ranks weakened and
depleted by war just as the western smallpox epidemic struck, a calamity their
population still has not recovered from. The Gros Ventre and their Assiniboine
allies did avoid removal to Oklahoma, accepting instead the reservation in
Montana where they live to this day; however, the government continues to
mine for gold on Gros Ventre tribal lands over their objections due to the
exploitative treaty with the Americans they signed at gunpoint in the 19th
century...
Please learn more about the Gros Ventre Tribe at: http://www.native-languages.org/gros.htm
The Reservation
Gros Ventre--Ahe or A'ananin to its own speakers--is an
Algonkian language spoken today by only a handful of elders in Montana.
Linguists consider it a dialect of Arapaho, though the two tribes maintain
distinct identities. Gros Ventre had the unusual trait of being pronounced
differently by male and female speakers--women used the sound "k"
where men used "tj" or "ch." (Both genders, of course, could
easily understand each other.
Gros Ventre was the French name for these Plains Indians
(supposedly because of their hearty appetites), and Atsina the name their
kinsmen the Arapaho bestowed on them, but they call themselves A'aninin, the
White Clay People. They share a reservation in Montana with their allies the
Assiniboine. The Gros Ventre people are occasionally confused with the
completely unrelated Hidatsa, whom the French also called Gros Ventre
(apparently because the symbols for the two tribes in Plains Indian Sign
Language are quite similar). There are about 3000 Gros Ventre Indians today...
Please learn more about the Gros Ventre Tribe at: http://www.native-languages.org/gros.htm
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