Native Americans in Idaho

Seven major groups claim parts of Idaho as their traditional homeland: the Couer d'Alene, the Kootenai, the Kalispell, the Nez Perce, the Paiute, the Shoshone, and the Bannock. Subgroups are often identified within these larger divisions. Idaho's Shoshone, for example, are categorized by linguists as Western Shoshone or Northern Shoshone. The modern Northern Shoshone, in turn, are comprised of smaller political and social units, called bands, including the Lemhi Shoshone, the Boise and Weiser bands, the Fort Hall Shoshone, and the Northwestern Bands.

Five reservations were established in Idaho from 1860-1880. All reservations have been significantly reduced, some several times, from their initial boundaries. Treaty rights have been similarly disregarded, changed, and curtailed, in response to American settlement and encroachment on reservation lands. The loss of treaty rights led to many minor skirmishes between Indians and whites, and also resulted in several major confrontations: the Bannock War of 1878, the Sheepeater War of 1878, and the Nez Perce War, the well-known "flight to Canada" by Chief Joseph and his followers.

Idaho's current Native American population encompasses members of tribes from throughout the United States. Most Native Americans live and work in the cities and towns outside of Idaho's five established reservations. However, the reservations are the focal point for maintaining tribal traditions and culture.

The buttons below will take you to more information on each of the major groups and subgroups of Idaho's Native Americans, organized by current reservation status. The Coeur d'Alene and Nez Perce occupy their own reservations. The Kootenai now reside on the Salish-Kootenai Reservation in northwest Montana. The Duck Valley Reservation, which straddles the Idaho-Nevada border, is home to Western Shoshone and Northern Paiute bands. Most of the Northern Shoshone bands and the Bannock were relocated to the Fort Hall Reservation in southeastern Idaho. Only the Northwestern Bands of Shoshone, of all Idaho's indigenous people, do not have a reservation.

Each of these groups has a long and distinguished history within the state, are complex and could be the subject of many different projects. Challenge Grant participants who are considering projects on Native Americans need to discuss that project with the multicultural project coordinator, Dotty Sammons (sammdott@isu.edu).