| Ute |
|---|
Flag of the Uintah & Ouray Reservation |
| Total population |
|
10,000 [1] |
| Regions with significant populations |
| United States (Utah, Colorado, New Mexico) |
| Languages |
| English, Ute |
| Religions |
| Christianity, other |
The Utes (/juːts/; "yoots") are an ethnically related group of American Indians now living primarily in Utah and Colorado. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. English is a West Germanic language originating in England and is the First language for most people in the United Kingdom, the United States The Ute language (also Southern Paiute and Colorado River) of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family is actually a Dialect Christianity ( Greek Χριστιανισμός from the word Xριστός ( Christ)is a monotheistic Religion centered on the life and teachings Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples from the regions of North America now encompassed by the continental United States The State of Utah (ˈjuːtɔː or) is a western state of the United States. The State of Colorado ( or chiefly by nonresidents) is a state located in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States of America. There are three Ute tribal reservations: Uintah-Ouray in northeastern Utah (3,500 members); Southern Ute in Colorado (1,500 members); and Ute Mountain which primarily lies in Colorado, but extends to Utah and New Mexico (2,000 members). An Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American Tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation is located in northeastern Utah, USA. Tribal Flag of the Southern Ute Tribe The Southern Ute Indian Reservation lies in southwestern Colorado, USA, along the northern border of New Mexico The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah, The name of the state of Utah was derived from the name Ute.
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Language
The native Ute language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan (Shoshone) family of languages and is a dialect of Southern Numic. The Ute language (also Southern Paiute and Colorado River) of the Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family is actually a Dialect Uto-Aztecan (also Uto-Aztekan) is a Native American Language family. The Shoshone ( or) are a Native American tribe with three large divisions the Northern the Western and the Eastern Numic is a branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family It includes seven languages spoken by Native American peoples traditionally living in the Great Basin However, most current Utes speak only English. Other American Indian groups with native Shoshonean dialects include the Bannocks, Comanches, Chemehuevi, Goshutes, Paiutes and Shoshones. The Bannock or Banate are a Native American people who traditionally lived in the northern Great Basin in what is now southeastern Oregon and The Comanche are a Native American ethnic group whose range (the Comancheria) consisted of present-day eastern New Mexico, southern Colorado The Chemehuevi are a Native American tribe who presently live with the Mohave in and near the Colorado River Reservation in Arizona. The Goshutes are a Native American tribe that once numbered 20000 The Shoshone ( or) are a Native American tribe with three large divisions the Northern the Western and the Eastern
History
Prior to the arrival of Mexican settlers, the Utes occupied significant portions of what are today eastern Utah, western Colorado and parts of New Mexico and Wyoming. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The State of Wyoming ( is a sparsely populated state in the western region of the United States. The Utes were never a unified group; instead, they consisted of numerous nomadic bands that maintained close associations with other neighboring groups. The 17 largest known groups were the Capote, Cumumba, Kapote, Moache, Moanumts, Pah Vant, Parianuche, San Pitch, Sheberetch, Taviwach, Timanogots, Tumpanawach, Uinta, Uncompahgre, White River, Weeminuche and Yamperika. Unlike many other tribal groups in this region, there is no tradition or evidence of migration to the areas now known as Colorado and Utah — ancestors of the Ute appear to have occupied this area for at least a thousand years.
Contact with Spanish explorers
The Utes' first contact with Europeans was with early Spanish explorers in the 1630s. Horses were eventually obtained through trading with the Spanish colonists in New Mexico or theft from those settlements. New Mexico ( is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States of America. The subsequent increase in mobility made possible by the horses was instrumental in changing aspects of Ute society in ways that paralleled the Plains Indian cultures of the Great Plains. The Plains Indians are the Indigenous peoples who live on the plains and rolling hills of the Great Plains of North America. The Great Plains are the broad expanse of Prairie and Steppe which lie east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada This social upheaval resulted in various degrees of consolidation, political realignment and tension between the various Ute groups. The Utes were for the most part enemies of the Spanish and the conquered Pueblo towns, and they engaged in a long series of wars, in some cases three-sided, with the Navajo, various other Apache tribes, and the Comanche, especially in the plains of eastern Colorado and northeastern New Mexico. Pueblos are traditional communities of Native Americans in the southwestern United States of America. The Navajo or Diné people (also spelled Navaho) of the Southwestern United States
Contact with other European settlers
The Ute experience with European-American settlers is similar to that of many other Native American groups: competition, confrontation and eventual coerced relocation to reservations. An Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American Tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau Of particular interest are the Walker War (1853–54) and Black Hawk War (1865–72) in Utah. Chief Colorow Ignacio Ouray Walkara (aka Wakara or Walker) (ca Utah's Black Hawk War (1865&ndash72 is the name of the estimated 150 battles between Mormon settlers in Sanpete County, Sevier County and much of central Utah
Over the years, friction between recently arrived white settlers and goldseekers in Utah and Colorado and local Ute groups resulted in several other skirmishes and incidents. Chief Ouray (c 1833&ndash August 24, 1880) was a Native American leader of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe of modern-day Utah In the same period, Ute sometimes allied themselves with the United States in their wars with the Navajo, for example in 1863, and with the Apache. Navajo (sometimes spelled Navaho) or Diné, (means The People in Navajo) refers or relates to the Navajo people, currently
A series of treaties established a small reservation in 1864 in northeast Utah, and a reservation in 1868, which included the western third of modern Colorado, and that included land actually claimed by other tribes. An Indian reservation is an area of land managed by a Native American Tribe under the United States Department of the Interior's Bureau This was whittled away until only the modern reservations are left: a large cession of land in 1873 transferred the gold-rich San Juan area, which was followed in 1879 by the loss of most of the remaining land after the "Meeker Massacre". Nathanial C Meeker ( July 12, 1817 &ndash September 30, 1879) was a 19th century U
Eventually, the various bands of Utes were consolidated onto three reservations. Several of these bands still maintain separate identities as part of the Ute tribal organizations. Although initially large and located in areas that white settlers deemed undesirable (occupying parts of Utah and most of western Colorado), the sizes of these reservations were repeatedly reduced by various government actions, encroachment by white settlers, and mining interests. In the 20th century, several U. S. federal court decisions restored portions of the original reservation land to the Ute Tribes' jurisdiction and awarded monetary compensations.
Northern Ute culture
The Northern Ute, and in particular the Uncompahgre Ute from Colorado, are exceptional artisans and produced extraordinary examples of religious and ceremonial beadwork, unusual art forms, and cunningly designed and decorated weapons of war in their traditional culture. The Ute obtained glass beads and other trade items from early trading contact with Europeans and rapidly incorporated their use into religious, ceremonial, and spartan objects.
Like their Southern neighbors, the Diné (Navajo), a large percentage of Northern Ute are members of the Native American Church and are active in peyote ceremonies. Native American Church, a religious denomination which practices Peyotism or the Peyote religion originated in the U Lophophora williamsii (loʊˈfɒfərə wɪlˈjæmsiaɪ lō-fof′ŏ-ră will-yăm′sē-ī better known by its common name Peyote, (from the Traditional Ute healers still use peyote to treat infections, and a variety of other plants, including Elk Root, Bear Root (Ligusticum porteri), and tobacco sage. Salvia dorrii, also known as tobacco sage, Dorr's sage, or mint sage is a plant in the genus Salvia, commonly called the The Ute have integrated peyote religion into their culture, with the resulting artistic and expressive influences pervading their art and rich cultural and ceremonial objects. There is evidence the Ute have used peyote obtained through trade and other potent ceremonial plants used as entheogens since ancient times, such as the dried leaves of Larb (a species of Manzanita), tobacco sage collected from the Escalante area (a mild hallucinogen when smoked), and the potent and narcotic White Uinta Water Lily. An entheogen, in the strictest sense is a Psychoactive substance used in a religious or shamanic (or entheogenic) context The Manzanitas are a subgenus of the genus Arctostaphylos. They are evergreen Shrubs or small Trees present in the Chaparral The general group of pharmacological agents commonly known as hallucinogens can be divided into three broad categories Psychedelics, Dissociatives Tobacco Sage was also brewed into a tea with Elk Root and the root of the Yellow Unita Water Lily and used to treat tumors and cancer. (While the root of the Yellow Unita Water Lily is toxic in large amounts, small amounts can be used to strengthen the heart muscle in people with heart ailments. ).
Ute religious beliefs borrowed much from the Plains Indians after the arrival of the horse. The Northern and Uncompahgre Ute were the only group of Indians known to create ceremonial pipes out of salmon alabaster, as well as a rare black pipestone found only in the creeks that border the southeastern slopes of the Uinta Mountains in Utah and Colorado. Although Ute pipe styles are unique, they resemble more closely the styles of their eastern neighbors from the Great Plains. The black pipestone is also used to make lethal war clubs that were used very efficiently from the back of a horse. The Ute have a religious aversion to handling thunderwood (wood from a tree struck by lightning) and believe that the thunder beings would strike down any Ute Indian that touched or handled such wood. This is also a Dine' (Navajo) belief. There is extensive evidence that contact between the two groups existed since ancient times.
Each spring the Utes (Northern and Southern) hold their traditional Bear Dances. Origin of the Bear Dance can be traced back several centuries. Each year, a mid-summer fasting ceremony known as the Sun Dance is held; this ceremony has important spiritual significance to the Utes. The Sun Dance is a Ceremony practiced by a number of Native Americans
The Uncompahgre Ute Indians from central Colorado are one of the first documented groups of people in the world known to utilize the effect of mechanoluminescence through the use of quartz crystals to generate light, likely hundreds of years before the modern world recognized the phenomenon. Mechanoluminescence is light emission resulting from any mechanical action on a solid Quartz (from German) is the most abundant Mineral in the Earth 's Continental crust (although Feldspar is more common in The Ute constructed special ceremonial rattles made from buffalo rawhide which they filled with clear quartz crystals collected from the mountains of Colorado and Utah. The American bison ( Bison bison) is a Bovine Mammal, also commonly known as the American buffalo. When the rattles were shaken at night during ceremonies, the friction and mechanical stress of the quartz crystals impacting together produced flashes of light which partly shone through the translucent buffalo hide. These rattles were believed to call spirits into Ute Ceremonies, and were considered extremely powerful religious objects.
Modern history
Present-day Utes occupy a small fraction of their former territories.
Northern Ute Tribe
The largest tribe, the Northern Ute, lives on the Uintah-Ouray Reservation in northeastern Utah. It is the largest reservation in Utah.
Several groups of Ute and Shoshone Indians were relocated to the Northern Ute reservation during the late 19th and early 20th century, including the Northern Shoshone, Uinta, Uncompahgre Ute, Northern Ute, and Ouray Ute. The Northern Ute disfranchised the other Ute groups when they reorganized the Northern Ute Tribe during the mid 20th century and gained control of the Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation as a result. The Uintah and Ouray Indian Reservation is located in northeastern Utah, USA. Lawsuits and litigation have been commonplace between the mixed blood Utes and the Northern Ute Tribe for rights to tribal enrollment and privileges. The Northern Ute Tribe has a 3/4 blood quantum requirement for tribal membership and have been accused by the mixed blood Utes of disenfranchising their rights to tribal lands and equal treatment. Blood Quantum Laws is an umbrella term that describes legislation enacted to define membership in Native American groups Most of the mixed blood Utes live on the reservation and have lived on land holdings owned by particular families since the Federal Government forced relocations in the late 19th century. The mixed blood Utes have recently applied for federal recognition and are involved in litigation with the United States and the Northern Ute tribe. Federally recognized tribes are those Indian tribes recognized by the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs for certain federal government
The Northern Ute Tribe began repurchasing former tribal lands following the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934. The Indian Reorganization Act, 1934, also known as the Wheeler-Howard Act or informally the Indian New Deal, was a U The 726,000 acre (2938 km²) Hill Creek Extension was returned to the tribe by the federal government in 1948. The acre is a unit of Area in a number of different systems including the imperial and U Court decisions in the 1980s granted the Northern Utes "legal jurisdiction" over three million acres (12,000 km²) of alienated reservation lands. Oil and gas discoveries on Ute land in Utah hold promise of increased living standards.
In 1965, the Northern Tribe agreed to allow the United States Bureau of Reclamation to divert a portion of its water from the Uinta Basin (part of the Colorado River Basin) to the Great Basin. The Bureau of Reclamation (formerly the United States Reclamation Service) is an agency under the U The Uintah Basin, also spelled Uinta Basin, is a physiographic section of the larger Colorado Plateaus province which in turn is part of the larger The Colorado River (' Aha Kwahwat in Mojave) is a River in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately The Great Basin is a large arid region of the western United States. The diversion would provide water supply for the Bonneville Unit of the Central Utah Project. The Central Utah Project is a United States federal water project In exchange, the Bureau of Reclamation agreed to plan and construct the Unitah, Upalco, and Ute Indian Units of the Central Utah Project to provide storage of the tribe's water. By 1992, the Bureau of Reclamation had made little or no progress on construction of these facilities. To compensate the Tribe for the Bureau of Reclamation's failure to meet its 1965 construction obligations, Title V of the Central Utah Project Completion Act contained the Ute Indian Rights Settlement. The Central Utah Project Completion Act ( CUPCA) ( PL 102-575) enacted on October 30, 1992 Under the settlement, the Northern Tribe received $49. 0 million for agricultural development, $29. 5 million for recreation and fish and wildlife enhancement, and $195 million for economic development.
Southern Ute Tribe
The Southern Ute Indian Reservation is located in southwestern Colorado, with its capital at Ignacio. Tribal Flag of the Southern Ute Tribe The Southern Ute Indian Reservation lies in southwestern Colorado, USA, along the northern border of New Mexico The Town of Ignacio is a Statutory Town located in La Plata County, Colorado, United States. Today, the Southern Ute are the wealthiest of the tribes and claim financial assets approaching $4 billion. [2] Gambling, tourism, oil & gas, real estate leases, plus various off-reservation financial and business investments have contributed to their success. The Sky Ute Casino and its associated entertainment and tourist facilities, together with tribally-operated Lake Capote, draw tourists and host the Four Corners Motorcycle Rally each year. The Ute operate KSUT, the major public radio station serving southwestern Colorado and the Four Corners.
Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
The Ute Mountain Ute are descendants of the Weminuche band who moved to the western end of the Southern Ute Reservation in 1897 (ironically, under the leadership of Chief Ignacio, for whom the eastern capital is named). Chief Ignacio (1828–1913 was a chief of a band of the Ute tribe of American Indians. The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation is located near Towaoc, Colorado, and includes small sections of Utah and New Mexico. The Ute Mountain Ute Indian Reservation is an Indian reservation in southwestern Colorado, northwestern New Mexico, and southeastern Utah, The Ute Mountain Tribal Park abuts Mesa Verde National Park and includes many Anasazi ruins. Mesa Verde National Park is a US National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United "Anasazi" directs here For the X-Files episode see Anasazi (The X-Files. The White Mesa Community of Utah (near Blanding) is part of the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe but is largely autonomous.
Modern challenges
Gradual assimilation into American culture has presented both challenges and opportunities for the Utes. The current conditions of the Utes are similar to those of many Native Americans living on reservations. Cultural differences between the Utes and the rest of America have contributed to pockets of poverty, educational difficulties and societal marginalization, although the Southern Ute Tribe is financially successful.
Notable Utes
- R. Carlos Nakai, Native American flutist
- Raoul Trujillo, dancer, choreographer, actor
- Chief Ouray, leader of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe. R Carlos Nakai (born April 16, 1946) is a Native American flautist of Navajo / Ute heritage Raoul Trujillo (born May 8, 1955 in Santa Fe New Mexico) is a Native American ( Apache / Ute) Actor, Chief Ouray (c 1833&ndash August 24, 1880) was a Native American leader of the Uncompahgre band of the Ute tribe of modern-day Utah
References in fiction
- Bearstone by Will Hobbs is about a troubled Weeminuche Ute boy who goes to live with an elderly rancher whose caring ways help the boy become a man. Bearstone is a village in Staffordshire, England.
- Beardance by Will Hobbs On a trip in the San Juan Mountains, an Weeminuche Ute boy helps two orphaned cubs and, at the same time, completes his spirit mission. The San Juan Mountains are a rugged Mountain range in the Rocky Mountains in southwestern Colorado.
- When the Legends Die by Hal Borland A Ute boy grows up from a reservation after his parents die and becomes a rodeo sensation, only
See also
- List of Indian reservations in the United States
- Indian Campaign Medal
- Ute mythology
- Bearstone novel
- Beardance novel
References
External links
- Encyclopedia of North American Indians
- Ute Tribe of the Uintah and Ouray Agency (Northern Ute Tribe)
- Southern Ute Indian Tribe
- Ute Mountain Ute Tribe
- Ute Tribe Education Department
- Four Corners Motorcycle Rally
- White River/Meeker Massacre
- Utah History to Go
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