Ute people

Ute
Núuchi
Chief Severo and family, c. 1899
Total population
4,800[1]–10,000[2]
Regions with significant populations
United States (Colorado, Utah)[3]
Languages
English, Spanish, Ute (Núuchi-u)[1]
Religion
Native American Church, Indigenous religion, and Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Shoshone, Southern Paiute, and Chemehuevi[4]

Ute (/ˈjuːt/) are an Indigenous people of the Great Basin and Colorado Plateau in present-day Utah, western Colorado, and northern New Mexico.[5][3] Historically, their territory also included parts of Wyoming, eastern Nevada, and Arizona.

Their Ute dialect is a Colorado River Numic language, part of the Uto-Aztecan language family[6]

Historically, the Utes belonged to almost a dozen nomadic bands, who came together for ceremonies and trade. They also traded with neighboring tribes, including Pueblo peoples. The Ute had settled in the Four Corners region by 1500 CE.[7]

The Utes' first contact with Europeans was with the Spanish in the 18th century.[5] The Utes had already acquired horses from neighboring tribes by the late 17th century. They had limited direct contact with the Spanish but participated in regional trade.[5]

Sustained contact with Euro-Americans began in 1847 with the arrival of the Mormons to the American West and the gold rushes of the 1850s.[5] Utes fought to protect their homelands from invaders, and Brigham Young convinced U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to forcibly remove Utes in Utah to an Indian Reservation in 1864.[5] Colorado Utes were forced onto a reservation in 1881.[8][3]

Today, there are three federally recognized tribes of Ute people:

These three tribes maintain 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).[citation needed]

  1. ^ a b "Ute-Southern Paiute". Ethnologue. Retrieved 27 Feb 2014.
  2. ^ "American Indian, Alaska Native Tables from the Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2004–2005" (Archived 2012-10-04 at the Wayback Machine). US Census Bureau, USA.
  3. ^ a b c Pritkzer, A Native American Encyclopedia, p. 242
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Bakken was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ a b c d e Denison, Brandi (2017). Ute Land Religion in the American West, 1879–2009. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. p. 13. ISBN 9781496201416.
  6. ^ Iyuba (15 November 2021). "Book of the Week — A Few Words in the Utah and Sho-sho-ne Dialects…". J. Willard Marriott Library. University of Utah. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  7. ^ "Southern Ute". Museum of Northern Arizona. Retrieved 5 October 2024.
  8. ^ Denison, Brandi (2017). Ute Land Religion in the American West, 1879–2009. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. pp. 13–14. ISBN 9781496201416.