The Paiute (or Piute) were a group of Native Americans who traditionally lived in a large territory in what is now the western United States. The tribe was divided into the Southern Paiute and the Northern Paiute. The Southern Paiute occupied lands in present-day Utah, Arizona, and Nevada. The Northern Paiute, also known as the Paviotso, lived in what are now Oregon, Idaho, Nevada, and California.

Society and culture

The harsh environment in which the Paiute lived offered few sources of water and food. Therefore they had to devote most of their lives in search of these resources. They traveled constantly in small family groups, moving with the seasons to areas where food and water were available. While on the move, they lived in wickiups—simple temporary shelters made from brush.

Some of the Southern Paiute planted small gardens. But most of the Paiute obtained their food by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild plants. In the winter they hunted and fished. In the spring and summer they ate roots, seeds, grass, and berries. They supplemented these plant foods with the meat of small animals, including rodents, snakes, and ducks. In the fall pine nuts from piñon trees made up most of the Paiute diet. Throughout the year the Paiute traded with nearby Indians, such as the Hopi and the Mojave, for other foods and goods.

The Paiute were skilled basket makers. Their baskets were so tightly woven that they could hold tiny seeds and even water. The Paiute made their clothing from rabbit furs and buckskin. Their tools included bows and arrows, knives, and sticks sharpened at one end, which women used to dig up roots. Because of this activity, non-Indians sometimes referred to the Paiute as Digger Indians.

The Paiute believed that spirits of antelope, bear, mountain goats, and other animals controlled their world. Men and women who encountered these spirits in dreams were considered powerful healers. The Paiute thought that if people could fall ill or even die if they did not obey the spirits.

History

The Paiute were among the last Indian groups in North America to have regular contact with non-Indians. Non-Indians did not arrive in their lands until the early 19th century. Most were fur traders, who offered the Paiute guns and other goods.

In the 1830s and 1840s large numbers of white settlers began traveling through Paiute lands on their way to present-day California and Oregon. The Northern Paiute became angry as these whites and their cattle began to interfere with the tribe's efforts to gather food. They began attacking wagon trains and sometimes killed the intruders. To stop the attacks, the United States Army was sent to Northern Paiute territory in the 1860s. Late in the 19th century both the Northern and Southern Paiute were forced to give up their territory and move to reservations.

Upset with the changing times, a Paiute man named Wovoka began a new religion in 1889. In a vision he saw a new world where illness, warfare, and non-Indians did not exist. Native Americans from all over the West were soon attracted to his Ghost Dance Religion.

At the end of the 20th century about10,000 Northern and Southern Paiute lived in the United States. They have reservation lands in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Utah. Many Paiute now work as ranchers and ranch hands.