Crow people
The Crow, whose autonym is Apsáalooke ([ə̀ˈpsáːɾòːɡè]), also spelled Absaroka, are Native Americans living primarily in southern Montana. Today, the Crow people have a federally recognized tribe, the Crow Tribe of Montana,[1] with an Indian reservation, the Crow Indian Reservation, located in the south-central part of the state.[1]
Crow Indians are a Plains tribe, who speak the Crow language, part of the Missouri River Valley branch of Siouan languages. Of the 14,000 enrolled tribal members, an estimated 3,000 spoke the Crow language in 2007.[2]
During the expansion into the West, the Crow people were allied with the United States against its neighbors and rivals, the Sioux and Cheyenne. In historical times, the Crow lived in the Yellowstone River valley, which extends from present-day Wyoming, through Montana and into North Dakota, where it joins the Missouri River.
Since the 19th century, Crow people have been concentrated on their reservation established south of Billings, Montana. Today, they also live in several major, mainly western, cities. Tribal headquarters are located at Crow Agency, Montana.[3] The tribe operates the Little Big Horn College.[2]
Name[edit]
The autonym of the tribe, Apsáalooké or Absaroka, means "children of the large-beaked bird"[4] and was given to them by the Hidatsa, a neighboring and related Siouan-speaking tribe. French interpreters translated the name as gens du corbeau ("people of the crow"), and they became known in English as the Crow. Other tribes also refer to the Apsáalooke as "crow" or "raven" in their own languages.[5] The identity of the bird this name was meant to refer to originally is lost to time, but many Apsáalooké people believe it references the mythical Thunderbird.[6]
Painting of Holds The Enemy, a Crow warrior with split horn headdress and beaded wool leggings by E. A. Burbank
Hó-ra-tó-a, a Crow warrior with headdress, bison robe, and hair reaching the ground. Painted by George Catlin, Fort Union 1832.
21st-century[edit]
Geography[edit]
The Crow Indian Reservation in south-central Montana is a large reservation covering approximately 2,300,000 acres (3,600 sq mi; 9,300 km2) of land area, the fifth-largest Indian reservation in the United States. The reservation is primarily in Big Horn and Yellowstone counties with ceded lands in Rosebud, Carbon, and Treasure counties. The Crow Indian Reservation's eastern border is the 107th meridian line, except along the border line of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.
The southern border is from the 107th meridian line west to the east bank of the Big Horn River. The line travels downstream to Bighorn Canyon National Recreation Area and west to the Pryor Mountains and north-easterly to Billings. The northern border travels east and through Hardin, Montana, to the 107th meridian line. The 2000 census reported a total population of 6,894 on reservation lands. Its largest community is Crow Agency.